Development of a Database on Intrinsic Safety Information

The need for this project was identified in a previous ACARP project C12023 where a lack of knowledge with regard to Intrinsic Safety was identified as an area that needed to be addressed by future projects. The aim of this project was to establish a database of information with regard to Intrinsic Safety.  The database was developed in Microsoft Access which is one of the Microsoft Office suite of programs. As Microsoft Office is accepted as the “unofficial” package used by most companies it would not require any additional expense to use the database.

To conserve the information obtained a decision was made to only include information where a paper copy was available. The copy was scanned into electronic format as an additional method of safe guarding the information.

One of the significant findings of the project was that it is difficult and time consuming to obtain earlier publications on Intrinsic Safety. In some cases, the companies responsible for the earlier publications have changed names, or have been amalgamated with other companies. During these processes and for other reasons valuable information has been lost.

Simtars has undertaken to maintain the database and continue to expand it. Additional information will be entered into the database as it is sourced. At the beginning of each year an update of the database will be made available to ACARP for distribution to the coal producers.