From Moving Parts to Peace of Mind - Mechanical Device Certification

Talk to a Certification Expert Mechanical Certification: What you Need to Know
Industrial control valve and solenoid

IEC 61508 Certification

For OEMs developing safety-related devices and systems, certification is more than a compliance milestone—it is a commercial advantage. Independent IEC 61508 certification helps demonstrate product quality, verified reliability, and functional safety capability in a way that customers, regulators, and global markets can recognize with confidence.

With the right certification strategy, manufacturers can open doors to new customers, new regions, and new applications where functional safety evidence is increasingly expected. Whether the goal is to support market entry, strengthen customer trust, or reduce barriers during technical evaluation, certification provides a clear, independent quality statement backed by disciplined assessment.

Challenges

Why Certification Matters

In many industries, end users prefer, or require, third-party assessment before safety-related equipment is approved for use. Certification helps manufacturers provide the evidence customers need, including documented failure data, safety manuals, assessment reports, and confidence that systematic failures have been addressed through a structured development and evaluation process.

The result is broader market acceptance and a more credible, competitive position throughout customer qualification, specification, and procurement.

Expanded Access

Expand access to customers that require independently assessed products

Market Entry

Support entry into regions and industries with functional safety expectations

Statement of Quality

Provide a credible quality statement for sales, engineering, and compliance teams

Reliability Data

Give users verified reliability information for safety calculations and equipment selection

Increased Safety

Design and manufacture to minimize random failures and lower Probability of Failure on Demand (PFDavg) 

exida's approach

exida – Certified Safety. Proven Performance.

At exida, we are certification experts—so your team doesn’t have to be.

We help OEMs achieve IEC 61508 certification faster and with minimal strain on internal resources. Combining deep assessment expertise, practical guidance, and proven tools, our specialists lead every stage of the process. We evaluate documentation, analyze evidence, and translate complex standards into clear, actionable steps.

When gaps or issues arise, exida provides focused resolution pathways to keep momentum moving forward. This streamlined approach eliminates the steep learning curve and heavy administrative burden, allowing your engineering, manufacturing, and support teams to stay focused on what they do best: building great products.

Our customers can expect our solutions to provide:

  1. Faster progress through assessment and certification

  2. Reduced workload for engineering, quality, and compliance teams

  3. Guidance and training from recognized functional safety specialists

  4. Access to vetted failure-rate data through exida resources such as exida's Component Reliability Database (CRD)

  5. Greater market visibility through end-user tools such as the Safety Equipment Reliability Handbook (SERH), exSILentia and the Safety Automation Equipment List (SAEL)

  6. Support for Route 2H and reliability-based justification, where applicable

More Than Certification: A Complete Functional Safety Ecosystem

Working with exida means access to a comprehensive functional safety ecosystem, including global experts, industry-recognized training, technical publications, webinars, lifecycle tools, failure-rate databases, and practical engineering resources. These capabilities support both certification projects and long-term product stewardship.

exida’s global network also helps OEMs serve customers across regions. Local experts and language capabilities enable exida to support international manufacturers, meet multinational customer expectations, and apply a consistent certification methodology worldwide.

industrial turbine

Support for Assemblies, Systems, and Specialty Applications

exida supports more than individual product certification. For product families, order-specific assessments, bespoke systems, and complex assemblies, exida brings mechanical, electrical, and software expertise together to evaluate the complete safety-related solution.

This is especially valuable for high-integrity and application-specific systems such as high-integrity pressure protection, turbine valves, surface safety and wellhead systems, hydraulic power units, accumulator systems, and emergency shutdown or trip systems.

Clear Outputs Customers Can Use

We know the strongest certification outputs are easy for customers to apply, that’s why exida focuses on clear, unambiguous reports and usable reliability data that support equipment selection, SIL verification, PFDavg calculations, and lifecycle documentation.

For OEMs, that means the certification deliverables can support sales conversations, technical submittals, user documentation, and ongoing customer confidence, rather than just internal compliance records.

Safety Shutoff Valves on gas pipelines in front of fuel tanks in the background

Ready for the Next Wave of Requirements

As machinery safety, cybersecurity, and regulatory expectations continue to evolve, OEMs need a certification partner that understands both today’s functional safety requirements and the emerging compliance landscape. exida can support manufacturers preparing for upcoming regulations, helping align product assurance activities with broader market and regulatory needs.

For manufacturers of automated valve products, EN 17955 certification can often be added as a natural extension of an existing IEC 61508 certification effort. Because the assessments are closely aligned, exida can evaluate EN 17955 requirements alongside the functional safety assessment, minimizing additional effort while providing certification to a standard increasingly recognized within the process industries.

Turn Certification into a Market Advantage

An IEC 61508 certificate from exida can help manufacturers do more than meet a requirement. It can help build customer confidence, strengthen competitive positioning, accelerate acceptance, and expand the market for safety-related products and systems.

Talk to a Certification Expert