Custom app development for zone checks and gas measurement on the shop floor
A zone boundary is a line on a drawing. On the floor there is no stripe. Someone with a drill who walks round a corner doesn't know they've just stepped into a zone, and the contractor who arrived this morning knows it even less. That isn't a matter of carelessness, it's a matter of not being able to see it.
Why paper doesn't work here
Informing people who work in a hazardous zone is one of the mandatory components of the explosion protection document. In practice that information takes the form of an instruction on starting work and a floor plan on the wall of the tool store. Both exist, and both are in the wrong place at the wrong moment.
The question that matters on the floor is small and concrete: is this tool allowed in here. Behind it sits a chain nobody knows by heart. The zone determines the required category, category 1 belongs to the most hazardous zones and category 3 to the least, and the marking on the device shows whether it meets that requirement. Three steps, at a moment when someone is in a hurry.
For external contractors and fitters it counts double. They don't know your layout, their equipment comes from their own van, and they are precisely the group working on installations where the risk lies. The site instruction they received on arrival covers the whole location, not the corner where they are working this afternoon.
How we build this
The app must answer one question at the point where it arises. Anything that doesn't contribute to that makes it slower and therefore less used.
A code at the entrance to a room or installation section gives the zone. Scanning is quicker than searching a floor plan, and it works for someone who is there for the first time.
Tools and measuring instruments get a code with their category and inspection status. The app places that alongside the zone and gives an outcome instead of data.
Where a gas measurement is required, the app asks for it first and records the value with time and location. A reading entered afterwards is administration, not safety.
An installation hall, a basement or a tank pit often has no signal. The app works offline and synchronises as soon as connectivity returns.
What the app does in practice
The zone check carries the whole process. What you record beyond that depends on who comes into your site and with what equipment.
Looking up the zone on site
A code at the entrance gives you the zone, its class and the requirements that apply. No hunting for drawings and no interpreting floor plans.
Is this allowed in here?
The app compares the equipment category against the zone and gives a yes or no. If the answer is no, it also states what is permitted, because a prohibition without an alternative just creates a workaround.
Gas measurement recorded at the moment itself
Value, time, location and person in a single action. If a reading is out of range, the flow stops and a notification goes to the people responsible, via an integration with the system that tracks follow-up.
Works without signal
In a tank pit or basement there is usually no coverage. Everything is recorded locally and synced later, with the original time preserved.
Observations with photo and location
A damaged cable gland or a door left open can be recorded where you see it. A report typed up only back at the office loses its location and usually its urgency too.
Access for third parties per zone
Contractors and fitters receive the instructions for the zone they are going to, not the general gate instructions. Who saw what is recorded.
Who we build for
The situation differs by sector, but the question on the floor is the same everywhere. Four cases.
Process and chemical industry
Many zones close together and a lot of work by third parties. Here, scanning at the entrance to an installation area delivers the most value.
Businesses with dust explosion risk
With flour, sugar, milk powder or wood dust, the concern is zones 20 to 22. These are less visible than gas zones and are therefore more often overlooked. See also software for the food industry.
Installers and maintenance contractors
You work at sites with different layouts. Knowing what is allowed before the van is unloaded saves an aborted job. See also the field service app.
Storage and handling of flammable substances
Fewer zones, but more changing people and more forklifts. The question shifts from equipment to vehicles and to who drives on the site.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
Zone layouts change and equipment rotates. Everything related to zones, categories and instructions should be configurable and not hard-coded into the app.
Why Appfront
The question arises on the floor, so the answer has to be there too
We build for the moment when someone with tools in hand stands at a door, not for the moment when someone fills something in afterwards.
An outcome, not just data
The app tells you whether it is allowed. Anyone who has to match a category to a zone themselves does it once, and then never again.
No signal is the normal state
We build offline as the default. An app that only works at the gate will not be used at the installation.
Also for people who don't work there
Contractors and fitters are the group with the greatest risk and the least knowledge of your layout. We build specifically for them.
Security and privacy
Your zone layout shows where the risk lies in your facility, and this app makes that information available to outside parties. We therefore restrict access by zone and by time period: a contractor sees only the zones they are permitted to enter that day, not the rest of the site, and that access expires automatically.
On this subject, the recording itself is a safety measure. A gas reading that can be altered afterwards is no longer a reading; in the event of an incident, it is the first thing an investigator looks at. We record measurements and checks as unalterable entries with time, location and person, and any correction appears as a visible amendment alongside the original value. Our own approach to security is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside Appfront go through our coordinated vulnerability disclosure policy.
Frequently asked questions about the ATEX app
No. A work permit covers releasing work on an installation and has its own flow with its own sign-off. This app addresses the question that comes before or alongside it: may this equipment be used in this zone. In practice we link the two, so the measurement from the app ends up in the permit.
By scanning. A code at the entrance to a room or installation section identifies the zone. We deliberately do not rely on satellite positioning: it is unreliable indoors, and zone boundaries are often only a few metres apart, which is well below the accuracy you need.
The app keeps working. Everything is recorded locally and synchronised once connectivity returns, with the original time preserved. That last point matters: a measurement stamped with the time of synchronisation rather than the time of measurement is worthless as evidence.
That is the main purpose. They do not know your layout and bring their own equipment. We give them access to the zones they may enter that day, together with the relevant instructions, and that access expires automatically.
Yes. Where a measurement is required, the process cannot continue until a value has been entered and falls within the set limits. If a reading fails, the process stops and an alert is sent. Whether you want this enforced is a choice: it makes the app stricter and sometimes slower.
From your own layout. If it is held in a register of zones and equipment, the app retrieves it from there. If it exists only as a drawing held by a consultant, the first step is entering it, and that is usually when it becomes apparent that the drawing is out of date.
Technically, yes, but in a hazardous area something different applies: an ordinary phone is usually not permitted there. In zones 1 and 2, people work with intrinsically safe devices or leave the phone outside the zone. We account for this in the design, for example by having the check take place before entry.
That depends on the number of sites, whether a zone register already exists and whether contractors are involved. The scan-based zone check is generally quick to put into use; setting up equipment with codes and inspection status takes longer. We provide a reasoned estimate following the initial assessment.
Want to see the zone boundary in practice?
Ask a fitter who is working there now to point out the boundary of a zone. The answer will tell you how much of your layout has actually reached the floor. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader building an app project.