Cable Solutions for Hazardous Areas and Explosive Atmospheres

The hazardous area industry involves some of the world's most challenging operational locations. In the oil and gas sector, for instance, onsite workers and facilities face critical hazards from fire and explosion. Containing these threats quickly prevents catastrophe. However, operators often overlook many other industries where explosive atmosphere risks exist right now.

Common High-Risk Locations and Explosive Environments

How Specialised Equipment Protects High-Risk Zones

Specialised equipment restricts fuel from finding an ignition source. It limits fire spread while maintaining critical emergency systems. This protection buys vital time for safe evacuation, controlled shutdown, and asset protection.

Dangers in these environments are often hidden. Most gases carry no odour, and most explosive dusts look harmless. As the 2020 Beirut explosion demonstrated, storage facilities rarely look threatening until they find a spark.

Powered equipment provides that ignition source. Every electrical circuit within a hazardous location must provide adequate safety measures to mitigate disaster risks.

Selecting Cable Systems for Hazardous Locations

Design engineers evaluate quality, price, and suitability during cable system selection. In a fire or explosion, the chosen cable system must perform beyond standard fire scenarios that could otherwise cause fatalities and destruction.

This requirement is even more critical in explosive atmospheres. The cable system must contain explosions, quench flames, and prevent sparks from entering explosive atmospheres. The equipment may only need to act once, but it must perform flawlessly. The Wrexham Mineral Cable system offers tested performance for these extreme demands.

Mineral Insulated Cables survives during a fire in excess of 1000°C making it the essential choice for areas which are high risk of flash over fires such as petro chemical plants. The construction of mineral insulated Cables includes a solid copper sheath which is non penetrable and suitable in some of the harshest environments. A bare mineral insulated cable can operate continuously at 250°C and requires no conduits, plastics or polymers to aid fire protection.

Fire Performance in Petrochemical and Ex-Rated Facilities

Mineral Insulated Cables (MICC) survive temperatures exceeding 1000°C. This extreme rating makes them essential for high-risk zones subject to flashover fires, such as petrochemical plants.

The construction features a solid, non-penetrable copper sheath that thrives in harsh environments. Bare mineral insulated cable operates continuously at 250°C without requiring conduits, plastics, or polymers for fire protection.

Simplifying Exd Installation in Hazardous Areas

Standard Exd hazardous area installations require fire-performance cables inside rigid conduit. MICC is the sole exception because it features built-in conduit protection.

A quick snap of our Ex-rated cable gland forms a water-, air-, and gas-tight seal in minutes. This setup reduces installation time up to tenfold compared to Steel Wire Armoured (SWA) cables. It also significantly decreases plastic usage and overall cable footprint.

Figure 1 highlights the physical differences between a 3-core MICC cable and a 3-core SWA cable.

Durability and Maintenance in Zone 1 and Zone 2 Applications

Mineral insulated cable withstands harsh environments while allowing easy IP protection upgrades. The Exd cable system from Wrexham Mineral Cables works seamlessly across all Exd explosion-proof environments.

Unlike alternative hazardous location cable systems, MICC requires no external conduits, curing resins, expensive fittings, or complex termination procedures. One simple twist of our cable gland locking nut produces a complete seal for Zone 1 and Zone 2 applications, backed by a 30-year system warranty.

Rapid Deployment for Ex-Rated Equipment

Wrexham Mineral Cables ATEX-approved MICC systems drastically lower operational risks. Commercial projects have relied on MICC since 1937, and its fire performance remains unmatched.

Combining mineral insulated cable with an Exd-rated cable gland creates a complete hazardous area cable system for Zones 1 and 2 in a single installation step. Fully approved glands eliminate additional conduit work and multi-hour resin curing times, allowing engineers to complete Exd installations in under 10 minutes.

WMC Quality, Approvals, and Warranty

WMC Quality

Global electrical industries recognize the quality and reliability of Wrexham Mineral Cables. We manufacture cables to British and European standards, holding certifications from bodies like BRE - LPCB. Our LPCB product approval register has run continuously for over 25 years—one of the longest records in Europe. LPCB also approves our ISO9001 Quality System, which governs our entire production facility.

WMC Approvals

• BS5839-1:2017: Enhanced to Clause 26.2
• BS EN 50200:2015
• BS 8434-2:2003 + A2:2009
• BS 8591 & BS 8491 CAT C
• BS6387:2013: C, W & Z
• BS 60331

Termination glands carry ATEX EExd and IECEx approvals to EN 60079 for potentially explosive atmospheres under ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU.

WMC Warranty

Our UK facility has manufactured over 180 million metres of MICC over 30 years with zero field failures. This track record supports our complete 30-year cable system warranty.

Global Hazardous Area Projects

The WMC project portfolio spans major global sites, including the Lower Fars Oil Field (Kuwait), Chandra Asri Petrochemical (Indonesia), and Chemical Industries Colombo (Sri Lanka). MICC remains essential for the hazardous sector because it survives fire temperatures over 1000°C. Its solid copper sheath provides non-penetrable protection in aggressive environments, operating continuously at 250°C without conduits, plastics, or polymer aids.

For further information on how WMC can help with your electric and data cables, please contact us