If your facility handles combustible dust — and more do than realise it — you may be operating in an ATEX classified area without the right extraction equipment. Using a standard industrial vacuum cleaner in a Zone 22 area is a breach of DSEAR legislation regardless of how high its filtration rating is. This guide explains which operations require ATEX certified equipment, how to identify whether your facility has classified zones, and what Zone 22 specification looks like in practice.
Which dusts are combustible?
Combustible dust is any finely divided solid material that can form an explosive cloud when suspended in air. The list is longer than most facilities expect:
- Food and grain — flour, grain dust, sugar, starch, dried milk powder, cocoa, coffee
- Wood — wood dust from sawing, sanding and routing. Wood dust is both a COSHH regulated substance and a combustible dust — it needs both M-Class filtration and ATEX certification in classified areas
- Pharmaceutical — active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipient powders, tablet dust from compression operations
- Metal — aluminium, magnesium and titanium dust. Non-ferrous metal dust produced in machining, grinding and polishing operations
- Plastics — most thermoplastic dusts from moulding, grinding and recycling operations
- Coal and biomass — coal dust, biomass pellet dust and wood chip dust in energy-from-waste and biofuel operations
How to tell whether your area is Zone 22
Zone 22 covers areas where explosive dust clouds are not expected during normal operation but could occur in abnormal conditions. Practically, Zone 22 typically includes:
- The general production floor area around grain handling, milling or mixing equipment
- Storage and bagging areas in food processing facilities
- The area around dust collection equipment and baghouses
- Cleaning areas in woodworking facilities where settled sawdust is disturbed during cleaning
- Pharmaceutical granulation and powder handling rooms
If your facility handles any of the materials listed above and settled dust is visible on surfaces, floors or ledges during normal operation, a Zone 22 classification is likely. DSEAR requires your employer to carry out a formal hazardous area classification and document it in an Explosion Protection Document. If this has not been done, that is itself a breach of DSEAR.
What standard vacuum cleaners cannot do in Zone 22
An M-Class or H-Class vacuum cleaner — however high its filtration — is not ATEX certified. It has an unshielded electric motor, non-antistatic hose and accessories, and standard plastic components that can generate and discharge static. In a Zone 22 area, any of these can be an ignition source for a combustible dust cloud. Filtration rating is irrelevant to explosion risk — a vacuum cleaner that captures 99.9% of particles at 0.3 microns can still ignite a dust cloud if it generates a static discharge or spark.
DSEAR is clear: only ATEX certified equipment, rated for the zone in which it is being used, may be operated in a classified area.
Zone 22 in practice — the V-TUF ATX specification
V-TUF ATX2000 — 45L, Zone 22, 240V / 110V, £3,399.99
Compact stainless construction, 1100W, Zone 22 M-Class certified. The choice for Zone 22 areas where manoeuvrability matters — food processing lines, around grain handling equipment, pharmaceutical production rooms where equipment must be moved between workstations.
V-TUF ATX4500i — 45L with detachable bin and automatic filter cleaning, Zone 22, 240V / 110V, £4,999.99
The continuous-use specification. Detachable bin allows safe dust disposal without filter exposure. Automatic filter cleaning maintains suction performance in heavy dust-load environments. The choice for grain milling, woodworking extraction and pharmaceutical production where continuous operation is required.
Required accessories for Zone 22 compliance: both ATX machines must be used with antistatic dust bags and antistatic hose assemblies. These are not optional — they are part of the Zone 22 certification. Using standard bags or hoses invalidates the ATEX certification.
The 2027 position — why this matters now
The 2027 DSEAR updates strengthen HSE enforcement in exactly the sectors listed above. Grain handling, food processing, pharmaceutical production and woodworking are named as priority inspection targets. An HSE inspector who finds uncertified vacuum cleaners operating in a Zone 22 area will issue an improvement notice at minimum — and has powers to issue a prohibition notice stopping the operation immediately if the risk is judged significant.
The investment in Zone 22 certified equipment is also an insurance position. Most industrial insurance policies require DSEAR compliance as a condition of cover. An explosion in a facility using uncertified equipment in a classified area is likely to be an uninsured event.
- ATEX Zone 22 dust extractors →
- Combustible dust regulations 2027 →
- Manufacturing sector hub →
- COSHH Regulations 2002 →
Telephone: 01522 787978 for ATEX equipment specification advice. Contact the V-TUF trade team →
