Explosion proof mobile phone for Yara in Norway

What is classified at Yara Porsgrunn

Herøya is a large industrial park beside the Frierfjord, and Yara Porsgrunn is its biggest production unit. The site makes ammonia, nitric acid, complete NPK fertilisers and calcium nitrate, and ships product from its own quay. That chain produces three kinds of hazardous area. Ammonia is flammable as well as toxic, with a narrow flammable range and high ignition energy, so the classified extent around it is often small; the classification drawings and the toxic-gas rules decide what is carried where. Fertiliser dust is the second: granulation, drying, screening and bagging generate dust whose explosibility depends on the product, so the explosion protection document sets the zone. The third is hydrogen, where hydrogen is used or planned for production by electrolysis.

How work is organised and what procurement will ask

The plants run continuously, with operators on shift rounds and a planned stop for maintenance every few years on the large units such as the ammonia plant. Stops bring in many contractors at once, working under the site's permit system. Between stops the main users are operators, maintenance technicians and laboratory staff.

Yara and the industrial park each set rules for suppliers and visitors. Yara sets its own supplier requirements, and Ex equipment for the plant is judged against its own technical requirements. SAMS has no approval from Yara and has not applied for one; speak to Yara's procurement and HSE teams about the process, and to the park about site access.

Norway