Borealis runs an ethylene cracker and polyolefin plants at Stenungsund on the Bohuslän coast, the centre of a petrochemical cluster where neighbouring plants are connected by pipe. This page is for the process, maintenance and HSE teams deciding what an explosion proof mobile phone has to do there. The IS-04Z1 is designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 and is still pre-launch, with ATEX certification in progress. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification programme in progress
Stenungsund is a single industrial island with several owners, and the Borealis cracker is the plant that feeds the others. It cracks hydrocarbon feed into ethylene and propylene, and the same site turns ethylene into high-density and low-density polyethylene, much of it for pipe, wire and cable. Borealis has also announced an expansion of cross-linked polyethylene capacity at Stenungsund for power-cable insulation. That gives one fenceline two kinds of hazard: flammable gas in the furnaces, compressors and reactors, and combustible polymer powder and pellet dust in the silos and extrusion halls. Ethylene is a group IIB gas and hydrogen, present in cracking and polymer processes, is group IIC, so the IIC target of the IS-04Z1 covers both.
A cracker is a long outdoor plant with a lot of heat and noise, and a polymer plant adds dust. These are the conditions that decide whether a handset survives a shift there.
Furnace and transfer lines run hot, and the area classification limits the maximum surface temperature of anything carried in. The marking target is II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4, and the temperature class on the certificate is the figure an instrumentation engineer will check against the drawing.
Polyethylene powder is combustible dust, and fine layers settle on every ledge. Zone 21 is part of the same design target as Zone 1, so one device serves the reactor floor and the silo gallery rather than two.
Stenungsund sits on the coast and most of the plant is outdoors. IP68 sealing and rugged build cover wet, cold and rough handling on stairs and gratings.
Contractors working in the cluster move between plants with different permit rules. Android 16 with Android Enterprise lets the site enrol a handset per contractor and wipe it when they leave.
An operator reads local gauges, photographs a leaking seal and calls the control room from the same handset, replacing the radio and the clipboard carried along the process units.
A cracker turnaround is a planned stop with a large contractor presence and hot work close to live units. Photographs of isolations and signed permits held on enrolled handsets keep the record in one place.
A technician checking dust extraction, a blocked filter or a pellet line in a Zone 21 area photographs the problem and logs it without leaving to find a safe-area terminal.
A cracker runs continuously for years and stops for planned turnarounds, so most contractor work arrives in bursts. Between them, shift teams do rounds through furnaces, compressors and reactors. A shared cluster adds a further layer: a contractor may work for Borealis on Monday and for a neighbour on Tuesday, and a handset enrolled under a managed console can be reissued without being reconfigured by hand.
Borealis sets its own requirements for equipment suppliers and this page does not claim any relationship with the company. Ask Borealis procurement and HSE what a supplier file needs: the ATEX certificate and marking, gas group, temperature class, safe-use instructions and a service route. The IS-04Z1 certificates have not been issued yet.
No. Ethylene is a group IIB gas and an IIC device is suitable for IIB and IIA atmospheres as well. The reason to specify IIC is hydrogen, which appears in cracking and polymer processes.
Not if the device is designed for both. Zone 1 covers gas and Zone 21 covers combustible dust, and the IS-04Z1 is designed for both, so a technician can move between a reactor floor and a silo gallery with one handset.
Each operator classifies its own plant, and a pipe corridor or shared jetty has its own drawing. Treat the classification of the specific area as the authority and ask the site HSE team which one applies.
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 Sweden. 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.
