UK chemical and pharmaceutical sites combine flammable solvent vapour, combustible powder and, on the larger complexes, refinery gas in the same footprint, which is why an explosion proof mobile phone for the United Kingdom has to cover Zone 1 and Zone 21 together. This page covers the sector: Teesside, Saltend, Stanlow, Grangemouth and the pharmaceutical plants at Macclesfield, Barnard Castle and Montrose. The IS-04Z1 is designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 and is pre-launch, with certification in progress ahead of Q4 2026. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification programme in progress
The picture is more varied than one process type. On Teesside the chemical industry is spread over Wilton International, Billingham and Seal Sands, where INEOS runs a nitriles business making feedstock for carbon fibre. SABIC has announced the permanent closure of its Olefins 6 cracker at Wilton, which had been offline since 2020, so some of what was once a refinery-and-cracker landscape is now a decommissioning one. Saltend Chemicals Park near Hull covers about 370 acres and includes a cogeneration plant supplying electricity and steam to the park. Grangemouth’s refinery stopped processing crude in 2025 and the site is becoming an import terminal, while the INEOS petrochemicals and Forties Pipeline System businesses carry on. Of the refineries still working, ExxonMobil’s at Fawley, Valero’s at Pembroke, Essar’s at Stanlow and Phillips 66 at Humber remain, with Lindsey closed in 2025. On the pharmaceutical side, AstraZeneca’s Macclesfield site is the largest pharmaceutical production facility in the UK, and GSK makes active ingredients at Barnard Castle and Montrose.
The risk on these sites changes from room to room, so a device is judged on how it handles transitions as much as on any one rating.
A solvent reactor hall can sit beside a powder room, so a worker may cross from a Zone 1 gas area to a Zone 21 dust area in minutes. The IS-04Z1 is designed for both, with an II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4 gas target and dust protection under the same certification programme.
Plants are washed and wiped down, in pharma to a documented cleaning standard. IP68 sealing and a sealed, wipeable body are what allow a handset to go through that routine without failing.
A 50 MP camera with PDAF records a seal, a label or a gauge in legible detail, and an enrolled handset can attach the image to the work order, which saves a second entry into a classified room.
Large complexes run campaign turnarounds with hundreds of contractors in a few weeks. A device managed through Android Enterprise can be issued in bulk, restricted by policy and wiped at the end of the campaign.
Between a control room and the unit being worked there may be a long walk and no charging point. The 4,000 mAh battery is sized for a full shift with the camera and GNSS in use.
An operator records readings at pumps and vents, photographs a weeping gland and calls the control room from the same device, in an area classified for solvent vapour.
A maintenance technician working at a mill or dryer in a Zone 21 area needs drawings and the permit in hand. A handset designed for gas and dust avoids a second device for the solvent side of the building.
Several hundred contractors working around a refinery or chemical unit need a controlled handset pool. Policy-based camera and application restrictions suit sites that limit photography.
Usually not in the cleanroom itself. The requirement comes from the solvent store, the reactor hall or the powder room next to it, as set by the site’s hazardous area classification under the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations.
Several large UK sites have changed status recently, including Grangemouth, Lindsey and Wilton’s olefins plant, so check the current position with the operator. Oil and gas assets are covered on the explosion proof phone for UK oil and gas page.
Practice varies by company and site, and we have not verified a standard programme. Ask the site’s procurement, engineering and HSE teams for their approved-equipment and contractor induction requirements.
No. It is pre-launch, with IECEx, ATEX and UKEX certification in progress ahead of Q4 2026, and SAMS has no pilot or supply agreement with any UK chemical or pharmaceutical operator.
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 United Kingdom. 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.
