[ Intrinsically Safe Devices ]

Intrinsically safe fire detection equipment is defined as "equipment and wiring which is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal energy under normal or abnormal conditions to cause ignition of a specific hazardous atmosphere mixture in its most easily ignited concentration".

This basically means that intrinsically safe equipment and wiring operates using electrical and thermal energy below the level that would be required to spark an explosion in a hazardous area such as an oil refinery.