- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Thursday, May 30, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 09 – Safety Lifecycle – IEC 61511
The IEC 61511 standard recommends the use of a functional safety lifecycle. Any safety lifecycle can be used, but the standard lays out a process which can be divided into three main classifications as an example.
The lifecycle is set up like this:
- Analyze the situation and document…
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- by Dr. Eric Scharpf, CFSE
- Tuesday, May 28, 2019
- Functional Safety
Duty of Care (Too Good to Be True Failure Rate Data)
I have received several calls lately to our Australia / New Zealand office about whether it is acceptable to use published failure rates that seem too good to be true.
The person calling is usually doing a SIL verification calculation for an operating plant or for an…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Tuesday, May 21, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 08 – IEC 61511
IEC 61511: 2016 Process Industry Sector
IEC 61511 is a technical standard that sets out practices in the engineering of systems that ensure the safety of an industrial process through the use of instrumentation. It entails requirements for users of process control and instrumentation for component / element or sub-system safety.…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Tuesday, May 14, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 07– Safety Lifecycle – IEC 61508
The IEC 61508 standard recommends the use of a functional safety lifecycle. Any safety lifecycle can be used, but the standard does lay out a nominal 16-step process which can be divided into three main classifications as an example.
The Analysis phase of the lifecycle deals with gathering background…
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- by John Yozallinas, CFSE
- Thursday, May 09, 2019
- Certification
PIU May Only Get You So Far…
If you’ve got lots of proven field history for a product, you should be able to claim that good work and get your product certified for use in functional safety applications. It is certainly still a challenge, but it is easier than certifying a new product. The…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Tuesday, May 07, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 06 – IEC 61508
In the following series of blogs, we'll go back to basics and run down everything you need to know to get started in functional safety. We'll start with some more general terms and descriptions and make our way to more advanced material.
IEC 61508: 2010 International Performance-Based Standard
TheRead More...
- by Robert J. Michalsky
- Thursday, May 02, 2019
- Industrial Cybersecurity
Why the Docker Breach is Noteworthy
All data breaches expose some type of IT (Information Technology) or OT (Operating Technology) system vulnerability. Cybersecurity professionals then need to evaluate and determine appropriate responses for themselves and their clients. It might be patching software, revising work processes or altering incident response techniques.
![Docker](https://www.exida.com/2019/docker.jpg)
…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Monday, April 29, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 05 – What is a Safety Function?
A Safety Function is the action of a collection of equipment to implement automatic mitigation of a particular hazard. It is the job of the Safety Instrumented Function (SIF).
Some examples of common Safety Functions:
- Car brake stop
- ESD valve – Shutdown process
- Sprinkler system
- High…
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- by Todd Stauffer
- Thursday, April 25, 2019
- Alarm Management
Don’t Let Your Safe Operating Limits Leave You S-O-L (Out of Luck)
As the name implies, the purpose of Safe Operating Limits (SOL) is to define the limits beyond which a process will not intentionally be operated and at which troubleshooting ceases, replaced by pre-determined actions to bring the process to a safe state. Pretty important information. I am sure this is…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Sunday, April 21, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 04 - Safety Instrumented System (SIS)
In the following series of blogs, we'll go back to basics and run down everything you need to know to get started in functional safety. We'll start with some more general terms and descriptions and make our way to more advanced material.
4. SIS
A SIS – Safety Instrumented…
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- by Patrick O'Brien
- Monday, April 15, 2019
- Industrial Cybersecurity
CACE Specialties, Now That’s New!
Cyberattacks have become the new norm for industrial control systems. A recent study found that 54% (more than half) of companies surveyed had experienced a cyber-attack on their Industrial control system within the last two years[1].
The need for well-trained, competent individuals to address cybersecurity for industrial control systems…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Wednesday, April 10, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 03 - Safety Instrumented Function (SIF)
In the following series of blogs, we'll go back to basics and run down everything you need to know to get started in functional safety. We'll start with some more general terms and descriptions and make our way to more advanced material.
3. SIF
SIF – Safety Instrumented Function…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Thursday, March 28, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 02 - Safety Integrity Level (SIL)
In the following series of blogs, we'll go back to basics and run down everything you need to know to get started in functional safety. We'll start with some more general terms and descriptions and make our way to more advanced material.
2. Safety Integrity Level (SIL)
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- by Ted Stewart, CFSP, exidaCSP
- Tuesday, March 26, 2019
- Functional Safety
China Probes Factory as Death Toll Rises
Walking into work last week and seeing this article reassured me why I work at exida. Incidents, like this recent one at a pesticide plant in eastern China, are why we push every day to help educate people about the importance of functional safety.
Have you heard about…
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- by Loren Stewart, CFSE
- Thursday, March 21, 2019
- Functional Safety
Back to Basics 01 - Functional Safety
In the following series of blogs, we'll go back to basics and run down everything you need to know to get started in functional safety. We'll start with some more general terms and descriptions and make our way to more advanced material.
1. Functional Safety
Functional safety means the…
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