Your Most Dangerous Assets Deserve the Closest Watch

Hazardous area monitoring for industrial facilities is the continuous, remote observation of machine health in environments where explosive gases, vapors, or combustible dusts may be present, especially in facilities found in mining,chemical, oil & gas, petrochemical, energy, grain, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. These areas (classified as Class I/II in North America,Zone 0 in the IECEx international classification) present unique challenges. Technicians must obtain permits to do repairs and have to take expensive safety precautions.

Without continuous monitoring, facilities are forced to rely on route-based manual inspections, which are costly, time-consuming, and expose workers to unnecessary safety risks every time they enter these zones. Traditional threshold-based sensors offer limited diagnostic capabilities and can send out false alarms, which, in a hazardous area, can trigger costly maintenance activities and dangerous shutdowns.

The stakes are high. Maintenance costs are higher because interventions are often slower, more constrained and more regulated…and often require special permits, certified technicians, and more. Downtime costs in hazardous areas can run 5–10x higher than in non-hazardous environments. Continuous AI monitoring changes the equation entirely: it lets teams detect developing issues early, plan maintenance proactively, and minimize the need for unplanned entries into dangerous zones.

Sensors and supporting hardware deployed in hazardous areas must be certified to match the specific classification of the zone in which they are installed. The certifications differ by geography:

-In North America, the relevant standards are NEC/CEC Class/Division ratings. The Ranger Pro sensor carries approvals including Class I, Division 1, Groups A, B, C, D, T4 and Class II, Division 1, Groups F, G T135°C, making it suitable for the most demanding environments where explosive gases and combustible dusts* excluding metal dust (C2D1 group E) are always present.

-For international deployments, ATEX and IECEx certifications apply. The Ranger Pro holds ATEX ratings including II 1G Ex ia IIC T4 Ga (explosive gas atmospheres) and II 1D Ex ia IIIB T135°C Da (explosive dust atmospheres), as well as corresponding IECEx certifications.

-The Cordant Gateway is rated to Class I Division 2 / Class II Division 2 (and ATEX Zone 2/22 equivalents). The 24V DC power supply, when provided by Augury, is rated to Class l, Div ll, Group ABCD T4 only, meaning it covers environments where explosive gases may occasionally be present, but not combustible dust environments.

A practical rule of thumb: when in doubt about whether a specific certification matches a specific zone, share the full technical datasheet for review.

The difference between hazardous Zone 1 and Division 1 classifications aren’t competing standards, they’re two different ways of saying roughly the same thing, depending on where you are in the world.

The Zone system comes out of the IEC/ATEX framework used across Europe and most international markets. Zone 1 indicates that a flammable atmosphere will periodically show up under normal operating conditions, not all the time, but often enough to matter.

Division 1 is the North American standard, sitting under the NEC and CEC. It’s broader than Zone 1 on its own, covering both continuous and frequent exposure, so it ends up aligning with Zones 0 and 1 together, not Zone 1 alone.

For the Ranger Pro sensor specifically, its Class I, Division 1 certification (required for North American markets) lines up with its Zone 0 and Zone 1 ratings under ATEX/IECEx, both confirm it’s built for the most demanding environments, where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases or vapors are a regular presence, not an occasional one.

The difference between hazardous Zone 1 and Division 1 classifications aren’t competing standards, they’re two different ways of saying roughly the same thing, depending on where you are in the world.

The Zone system comes out of the IEC/ATEX framework used across Europe and most international markets. Zone 1 indicates that a flammable atmosphere will periodically show up under normal operating conditions, not all the time, but often enough to matter.

Division 1 is the North American standard, sitting under the NEC and CEC. It’s broader than Zone 1 on its own, covering both continuous and frequent exposure, so it ends up aligning with Zones 0 and 1 together, not Zone 1 alone.

For the Ranger Pro sensor specifically, its Class I, Division 1 certification (required for North American markets) lines up with its Zone 0 and Zone 1 ratings under ATEX/IECEx, both confirm it’s built for the most demanding environments, where ignitable concentrations of flammable gases or vapors are a regular presence, not an occasional one.

The difference between hazardous Zone 1 and hazardous Zone 2 comes down to how frequently the explosive atmosphere is present.

Zone 1 (or Division 1 in North America) means the hazardous atmosphere, whether explosive gas, vapor, or dust, is present continuously or for long periods under normal operating conditions. These are the most stringently controlled areas of a facility. Equipment deployed here must meet the highest certification standards. The Ranger Pro sensor is rated for these environments.

Zone 2 (or Division 2 in North America) means the hazardous atmosphere is not normally present, or is present only briefly, typically as the result of an accidental release or equipment failure. Equipment here requires certification but to a less demanding level. The Cordant Gateway is rated to Division 2 / Zone 2, which is why it is typically sited at the boundary of or just outside the most extreme zones, communicating wirelessly with sensors placed deeper in the hazardous area.

What this looks like on a real installation: sensors sit on the asset inside Zone 1/Division 1, and everything else, the gateway, the power supply, lives in a safer area. High-power wiring never has to cross into the hot zone.

Yes, certified wireless sensors don’t require hot work permits because they’re incapable of producing the sparks or heat that would ignite the surrounding atmosphere, even under fault conditions. That’s the core requirement for intrinsic safety certification.

Hardware certified for the specific zone or division classification, like the Ranger Pro, rated Class I Division 1 and Zone 0/1, can be installed on live assets without de-energizing equipment, without permits, and without the safety procedures that manual inspections require.

Continuous monitoring in hazardous areas reduces risk because it reduces technician enters into those areas. Operators must minimize maintenance activities during shutdowns, follow strict entry protocols, use non-sparking tools (hand tools rather than electric drills, for example), and in the case of certain facilities, coordinate complex de-energization procedures before anyone can enter.

Continuous remote monitoring reduces technician exposure in three concrete ways:

First, it eliminates the need for routine inspection entries. Instead of scheduled route-based checks that bring workers into the zone regularly regardless of whether anything is wrong, AI  monitoring flags only genuine developing issues, meaning entries happen purposefully, with time to plan safely.

Second, it reduces false alarms. Traditional threshold-based systems generate alarm fatigue and teams are forced to investigate every alert, many of which turn out to be benign. In a hazardous environment, each false alarm is not just a productivity loss; it’s an unnecessary exposure event. 

Third, when maintenance is needed, early detection means planned work rather than emergency response. Planned entries during scheduled windows, with full preparation time, are inherently safer than emergency responses.

Machine health monitoring works in Class I and Class II explosive environments use the Baker Hughes Ranger Pro sensor paired with the Cordant Gateway, designed specifically to address the physical and regulatory constraints of explosive atmospheres.  This Gateway supports ~40 sensors.

In Class I environments (where explosive gases or vapors may be present), the Ranger Pro sensor (rated to Class I, Division 1) is mounted directly on the asset using a drill-and-tap installation. It captures triaxial vibration, temperature, and magnetic flux data continuously, transmitting sampled data via the ISA100 wireless protocol to the Cordant gateway. ISA100 is specifically engineered for long-range industrial wireless communication, capable of penetrating thick concrete, metal blast shielding, and multi-story structures which are conditions where standard Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signals would fail. Signals travel up to 100 meters (approximately 328 feet) to the Cordant Gateway, which is sited outside the most severe zone and converts the ISA100 signal to cellular, Wi-Fi, or PoE for transmission to the cloud.

In Class II environments (where combustible dusts such as grain dust or chemical powders may be present), the same Ranger Pro sensor provides certified coverage at the Division 1 level. The gateway supports Class II, Division 2 environments. It is worth noting that Augury’s provided 24V DC power supply is currently certified only for Class 1 environments (gases/vapors), not Class 2 (dusts). Customers with Class 2 environments should provide their own certified power supply or work with the Augury team on the appropriate siting approach.

Once data reaches the cloud, Augury’s AI platform processes it using the same algorithms that power its standard Machine Health offering, delivering accurate prescriptive diagnostics, fault severity assessments, and recommended actions, with low false alarm rates. The result is the same high-quality diagnostic experience available for CR in non-hazardous facilities in industry’s most demanding environments.