South Korea builds a large share of the world's gas carriers and tankers, and an explosion proof mobile phone for South Korea has to suit the yards as well as the refineries. Hazardous areas in a shipyard come and go with each vessel's build stage. This page is for the safety, gas-testing and telecoms teams at Korean yards. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · IECEx programme in progress
The largest single yard is Hyundai Heavy Industries at Ulsan, where trade press counts ten building docks. At Geoje, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean build large ships, including LNG carriers and offshore units. Shipyard hazards differ from a refinery's. Cargo and ballast tanks become enclosed spaces where coating solvent vapour, welding and hot work meet; LNG membrane tanks are inerted and gas-tested; fuel-gas systems on gas-fuelled ships are commissioned before delivery. A space is classified for a period, then declared gas-free. The yard's own permit system decides, and a device rated for a Zone 1 gas atmosphere is simply the tool that may be carried when that permit is live.
Four sector-wide conditions that separate a yard from a process plant.
Because zones are tied to the vessel and the stage of work, the same handset has to be allowed wherever the permit says a Zone 1 gas atmosphere may arise. The design target is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4; the final scope is stated by the certificate.
Blasting, welding and coating leave residue on equipment, and docks are wet. IP68 sealing and rugged build are specified for that, and a sealed unit can be rinsed.
A yard employs many subcontractor staff. Android Enterprise enrolment and MDM allow device groups per vessel or trade, camera policy set centrally and wipe on demobilisation.
A punch-list defect with a photograph and a position tag is easier to close than a description. The 50 MP camera and four-constellation GNSS are designed for that, subject to coverage inside steel structures.
Yards deal with foreign owners and class surveyors as well as Korean crews. Android 16 carries both languages on a single device.
A ship moves through steel cutting, block assembly, assembly in the dock, launch or float-out, quay-side outfitting and sea trials. Hazardous-area work concentrates in the later stages, when tanks are coated, systems connected and gas introduced, but confined-space entry and hot work permits run throughout. Several vessels at different stages share one yard, so a supervisor handles many permit boards at once. For a handset, onboarding crews who change vessel every few weeks matters as much as the Zone 1 rating, and the device needs to survive ladders, manholes and wet decks.
A worker entering a tank carries a handset that can call the standby person and record the entry.
A supervisor and the owner's inspector walk a vessel, photographing defects with a position tag.
Test engineers log readings on fuel and cargo gas systems and report status without leaving the space.
Yard safety rules are the shipyard's own, and vessels in service fall under classification society and flag-state rules, so we make no claim about a specific scheme. For each yard, ask the operator's procurement and HSE teams for its requirements in writing.
No. The device is pre-launch and certification is in progress ahead of the Q4 2026 launch.
The hazard is similar in kind but is controlled differently: by permits and gas testing tied to the vessel's stage, not a fixed drawing.
Environmental testing covers general cold durability; the certificate will state the operating range once issued, and the yard's HSE team should confirm it for specific procedures.
No. It is the largest single yard, but other groups such as Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean build at Geoje.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for South Korea. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
