Certification
Products - Functional Safety
Functional Safety Certification to IEC 61508
Functional Safety: “Part of overall safety to protect against incidents caused by incorrect functioning of components/systems”The IEC 61508 standard defines the requirements for suppliers to follow during product development to ensure that their products have a high level of resistance to random hardware and “systematic” design failures. Compliance is evaluated by qualified third party certification agencies which assess and certify that a product has been designed and developed in accordance with the standard. exida follows a rigorous process that verifies the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of a product’s hardware and software design, as well as its manufacturing and quality control procedures.
exida has performed more process control safety certifications than any other company worldwide
The Assessment & Certification Process at a Glance
- Review the product’s current design and testing processes against the requirements of the IEC 61508 standard(s) and identify any gaps.
- Complete a technical analysis for the product to assess that the design meets the technical requirements of the standard. This includes performing fault injection testing and a detailed Failure Modes, Effects & Diagnostics Analysis (FMEDA) to determine the failure rate data necessary for use in SIL verification.
- Perform a “Proven in Use” analysis if the basis of the IEC 61508 assessment includes assessment of field experience.
- Document the detailed assessment results (how / why each requirement of 61508 is met) in exida’s SafetyCaseDB tool. This data forms the basis for the eventual IEC 61508 certification.
- Perform a Final Assessment Audit to verify that the actual product development documents and process as captured in the safety case meet the associated IEC 61508 requirements. A successful audit results in the issuance of a compliance certificate, creation of an assessment / certification report and publication on the Safety Automation Equipment List.