Engineers and managers who work with safety equipment have likely seen a failure rate of some kind quoted for the equipment. Some equipment even comes with a safety certification stating the failure rate given certain…
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To Be Meaningful & Useful Failure Rates Must Be Validated
Evolution of Engineering Design – Advanced Diagnostics vs Redundancy
I recently studied the design changes made on the T series of old British cars (a hobby) made by the MG Company in England from 1936-1955. Models progressed over that time period including the TA,…
Functional Safety Assessments – Why Aren’t They Being Done?
It’s an interesting fact that many end users and engineering companies that I’ve talked to have not or do not undertake Functional Safety Assessments (FSAs). Why is this? My view is that many do not realize…
Getting Failure Rate Data on a New Component
Realistic component failure rate data is critical to an effective Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA). This failure rate data can eventually be obtained from component parts manufacturers, research and field failure…
What ASIL is a software tool?
TL;DR Tools used in developing safety related automotive systems do not receive an ASIL. Some tools and the way they are used may not be suitable for the development of automotive safety electronics and…
Failure Rate Analysis Paralysis
Reliability Engineering experts know there are many variables that impact operational failure rates. These variables even include how operations and maintenance are done at a specific site. Sometimes it feels like there are so many variables…
Alarm Rationalization by the Numbers
“How much time does alarm rationalization take?”
It finally happened. Alarm management problems at the plant led to an incident and now management wants action. You have “volunteered” to put together a plan to…
Being Prepared in Cyberspace via Threat Modelling
Preparedness is defined as being in a state of readiness (Webster, 2022). This can take many different forms but when it comes to cybersecurity, a big part is knowing what threats lie in wait within…
Four Ways to Pick a Winning Alarm Rationalization Team
“Who should participate in alarm rationalization?”
It finally happened. Alarm management problems at the plant led to an incident and now management wants action. You have “volunteered” to put together a staffing plan to…
Competency and IEC61511
Many of you who follow exida’s blogs and webinars will know that we often talk about the requirement for competency. In fact, the 2016 edition of IEC61511 specifically addresses competency in more detail now…
Most Failures are Systematic - NOT!
At exida we have studied hundreds of sets of field failure data from various sources. Some of these data sets have indicated differences in failure rates by two orders of magnitude for the same product…
The Importance Of Considering Common Cause with Redundant Systems
Common Cause is one of those variables that is not always considered important when it comes to SIL compliance. And yet, for redundant systems, it can have a significant impact on the PFDavg and Risk…
Demystifying the Threat Modeling Process
The thought of tackling a threat model (TM) might not be the most appetizing to some people. Doing a quick Internet search, someone could get stuck under a mountain of acronyms and terms. I mean, what…
Machinery Hazards and Risk Assessment Techniques
Machinery related hazards continue to result in hundreds of deaths and thousands of serious injuries each year. In 2019, 2,963 deaths occurred in the construction, transportation and warehousing, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and…
If an Alarm Occurs and the Operator doesn’t Ack it, was it really an Alarm?
Similar to the thought experiment “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, we ask - If an alarm is generated, and…