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Entries tagged with: Safety Lifecycle

  • by Iwan van Beurden, CFSE
  • Monday, July 23, 2012
  • Software

Analysis and Realization: Done. Let’s Start Operation… What’s Next?

Congratulations! You’ve completed the Analysis and Realization phases of the Safety Lifecycle, and are about to begin the Operation phase, but what’s next? Well obviously you need to do proof testing, but is there anything else? You may be familiar with the figure below:

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Babies, Bathwater, and Australian Safety Laws

The old saying goes, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” But it looks like a number of people in Australia may be in danger of doing just that with their response to the country’s newly harmonized health and safety laws.

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Back to Basics 01 - 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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Back to Basics 02 - Safety Integrity Level (SIL)

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)

Safety…
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Back to Basics 03 - Safety Instrumented Function (SIF)

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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Back to Basics 07– Safety Lifecycle – IEC 61508

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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Back to Basics 09 – Safety Lifecycle – IEC 61511

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: 

  1. Analyze the situation and document…

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Cyber Security, Beyond the Internet: An Automation Engineer’s View

The world of automation has changed significantly over the past 30 years.  I have fond memories of starting my career by calibrating, adjusting, and tuning pneumatic control loops while working my way through the electronic age right up to the present digital and cyber generation of automation.  If you…

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Driving with Blinders

Imagine: An automobile that has only one window in the front.  No side windows. The driver can see to steer the auto forward and turn, but cannot see completely from side to side.  What happens when the driver reaches an intersection with no traffic lights? The driver cannot see…

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Getting Realistic Failure Rate Data - Part 1

Over the course of several blogs , I will talk about getting realistic failure rate data, where this failure data comes from, and how different methods of failure data analysis compare. I think if you understand this, you will begin to get a very good feel of what it…

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  • by John Yozallinas, CFSE
  • Wednesday, December 07, 2011
  • Certification

It Ought to be a Crime

There is no shortage of drivers who try to “beat the red light,” or roll through a stop sign.  I see it every day (luckily BEFORE they hit my side door).  Even though everyone knows, or should know the “rules of the road,” there are some folks who are…

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Lifecycle Analysis: It’s Worth the Effort

Obtaining My CFSE/CFSP Certification: Why Bother?

It’s an interesting question and one I asked myself.  For any engineer and/or professional working in the controls business or process industries where safety-related equipment is required, it is essential (per IEC61511-1 Clause 5.2.2: Organization and Resources) to prove competency to carry out any safety-lifecycle activities.  So what does…

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Performing a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment as a Component of the PHA

There are three main components of the safety lifecycle: analysis, realization, and operation. We will be taking a look at the analysis phase, particularly related to the cyber industry.

To start, the first thing to do in both safety and security is do a detailed process, hazard and…

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Reducing Project Lifecycle Cost with exSILentia®
  • by Kate Hildenbrandt
  • Wednesday, January 18, 2017
  • Software

Reducing Project Lifecycle Cost with exSILentia®

The international functional safety standard IEC 61511 provides the safety lifecycle as a steadfast guideline to assess and mitigate risk for manufacturing processes including refineries, chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and power plants. To achieve a functionally safe system, it is essential to follow each…

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  • by John Yozallinas, CFSE
  • Thursday, April 14, 2011
  • Certification

Stepping stones to SIL 3

Imagine.  Marketing has just approached the engineering department and says your new safety product must have SIL 3 Capable certification instead of SIL 2 to be successful.  You are in the engineering group developing this new product.  Now what?

Let’s assume that the “change request” makes…

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The Safety Lifecycle as a Risk Control Loop

I have been doing a number of recent projects introducing the safety lifecycle to companies that are new to the field. As a result I have been playing with various ways to think about the overall safety lifecycle philosophy. As many of the more experienced readers are…

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Two Billion Hours

When I studied Reliability Engineering in graduate school, I was taught that failure rate data came from field failure studies.  I assumed that operating companies always kept accurate records when a piece of equipment failed.  I also assumed that someone would investigate the failures and assign a root cause.…

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  • by John Yozallinas, CFSE
  • Friday, September 20, 2013
  • Certification

Under Pressure

Pressure can be good.  It creates diamonds, right?  It can help us focus; may move us to learn something new.  It can help reduce procrastination.  However pressure can quickly turn into a bad thing if it causes us to skip important process steps or to force a release because…

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Which FSAs Do I Have to Perform?

Which FSAs Do I Have to Perform?

The new release of IEC61511:2016 has caused some confusion when it comes to the Functional Safety Assessments (FSAs). Which ones are mandatory?

The confusion comes from the wording in the standard and the clarifications in the notes. The relevant clause in the standard 5.2.6.1.4 states:

A FSA team…

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