Ex Certification Bodies are not allowed to consult.
We can.
Do you have an Ex project you need a technical file for? A certificate you need but don’t know how to get? Help with a non-conformance raised in an audit?
Those are the jobs we take on directly, in confidence, and we tell you what we would actually do, from experience.
Three kinds of problem
If what you have does not look like any of these, ask anyway. Most of our consultancy work starts with a question someone was not sure was worth asking.
Certification assistance
You have a product to certify and the standards are not telling you plainly what is required.
We work alongside your engineers to get a product through certification. That means reading the standards with you and translating them into what your design actually has to do, working out which protection concept and which route makes sense, and getting the technical file into a state the certification body will accept first time rather than third.
- Interpreting the applicable standards for your product
- Protection concept and route selection
- Technical file review before submission
- Answering the body’s questions with you, not for you
- Design change assessment: is this significant enough to need re-certification
ATEX and IECEx investigations
A non-conformance has been raised, in an audit or internally, and you need it understood before it is answered.
Findings can be a business killer. We investigate what has actually happened, how far it reaches across your products and records, and what a defensible response looks like. The work is confidential, and we would rather you came to us early so that we can help you navigate these waters. We have seen it all before.
- Root cause investigation of an Ex non-conformance
- Assessment of how far the issue extends across products and batches
- Practical remediation plan, with what “closed” looks like
- Support drafting the response to the assessor
- Handled in confidence throughout
Cable and gland selection
Edition 6 changed the rules, and cable and gland can no longer be treated as separate decisions.
IEC 60079-14:2024 restructured Ex d cable and gland selection around a new flowchart, and put the Annex C cable pressure test on a normative footing. We take real installations through that flowchart with you, using our own five-step process, and tell you what evidence you need to hold.
- Walking your installation through the Edition 6 flowchart
- Barrier versus elastomeric-seal entry device decisions
- What counts as sufficient reliable evidence for Annex C
- Reviewing existing selections against the new edition
- Jon represented the UK on the IEC TC 31 committee that wrote Edition 6
Nothing leaves
the room
Investigation work means looking at things that went wrong. We do that under NDA as standard, and we do not use sensitive client work as marketing material.
We are also not your assessor and never will be. We work for you, and the report we write is yours.
Scoped and priced before we start
No retainers, no open-ended engagements. You know what you are getting and what it costs before any work begins.
Questions we are asked most
Still not covered? Send us the question. An engineer answers, not a chatbot.
What does your consultancy actually cover?
Three things. Certification assistance for manufacturers taking a product through ATEX, UKEX or IECEx and needing the standards translated into design requirements. ATEX and IECEx investigations where a non-conformance has been raised in an audit or found internally. And cable and gland selection under IEC 60079-14:2024, including what evidence Annex C requires.
How is it priced?
By the piece of work, not by the hour, wherever we can. A short technical query is often answered in a call at no cost. Anything larger gets a written scope and a fixed price before we start, so you are not signing up to an open-ended engagement.
Is the work confidential?
Yes. Investigation work in particular means looking at things that have gone wrong, so we work under NDA as standard and do not use client work as marketing material without written permission.
We have had a finding raised. How quickly can you look at it?
Tell us what the finding says and when your response is due. Findings with a deadline get priority, and the first conversation is usually the same week. Early is better than tidy: the worst position is one where a response has already been submitted that does not hold up.
Do you work on site?
Where it is needed, yes. Investigations and cable and gland work often need someone looking at the actual installation or the actual records. Certification assistance is usually more efficient remotely, with one or two days on site at the right moments.
Can you certify our product?
No. insightEx is not a certification body and does not issue certificates. We prepare you for certification and support you through the body’s assessment. If you need an introduction to the right body we hold those contacts, including Element Materials Technology, an ATEX notified body and IECEx certification body we work in partnership with.
Bring us the difficult one.
A stalled certification, a finding you need to answer, or a cable and gland combination you don't understand. Tell us what it is and we will tell you what we would do about it.
Ex training and compliance support for hazardous area equipment manufacturers.
Morpeth
NE61 6JN
Bellingham, Hexham
NE48 2AZ
