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News Item: New White Paper: Incorporating Agile and Scrum into IEC 62443
There are many ways to produce a software product. The traditional Information Technology (IT) way of creating a product was to incorporate the waterfall model, where rigid requirements were laid out before development began. Over the years, an agile process where flexibility is paramount has become the norm. One of…
Recorded Webinars: What-CHAZOP-macallit?
A Control Hazard and Operability Study (CHAZOP) is a procedure for analyzing the safety and reliability of existing or planned Control and Computer systems. A CHAZOP can be performed to support the overall process hazard analysis or to determine the reliability of the control system. Additionally, the CHAZOP represents a key opportunity for aligning functional safety and cybersecurity objectives. By pairing the CHAZOP with a cybersecurity High-Level Risk Assessment (HLRA) the safety, reliability, and security of the control system can be evaluated o support strategic decision making. This webinar will provide a general overview of the CHAZOP and HLRA methodologies along with examples that demonstrate the various approaches that can be taken and the advantages of aligning the CHAZOP study with a HLRA.
Blog Entry: The Non-Hackable System – Wait a Minute, What?
I had the privilege to attend the CDS-forum in Trondheim, Norway on October 15, 2019. The CDS-forum is a Norwegian Industry Forum for Cybersecurity of Industrial Automation and Control Systems. The forum is a co-operation between oil companies, engineering oil companies, consultants, vendors and researchers, with a special interest in…
Honeywell - 7823 Flame Switch
IEC 61508 in the Safety Automation Equipment List
News Item: Control Instruments Achieves SIL 3 Certification for Flammability Analyzer
Sellersville, PA: Control Instruments Corporation , the experts in gas detection and solvent vapor monitoring have just received their SIL 3 certification for the PrevEx Series 670 Flammability Analyze r through exida. Designed to monitor lower flammability limits, the PrevEx flammability analyzer is equipped to be fast with a less…
Recorded Webinars: WARNING: Personnel Certification Concerns
When a person makes the decision to participate in a certificate or certification program, it is a bigger decision and accomplishment than one may realize. This decision “labels” or “brands” themselves into a core group of practitioners, specialists, professionals, or experts. The title one achieves will now follow that individual on their future work, their signature in every email, and on all of their social media platforms. So what happens if your brand, that you worked hard to achieve, becomes tarnished, changes, or loses value? Does the person who carries this title also lose its value. In short, the answer is YES.
Personnel programs may be dropped by the certification body.
A few weeks ago, we heard that a personnel certificate program from Europe may be terminating their program. The uncertainties were concerning and we decided to help. This webinar will go over some of the information that we have learned thus far about this personnel certification body and what the CFSE program is proactively doing to help all those effected by this change.
Blog Entry: How Much Testing Is Enough?
Have you ever wondered if you tested your product enough? Either in enough ways or for a long enough time? This assumes that you’d prefer to discover all the problems before your customers do. If you follow a 61508 compliant development process , you should be able to answer that…
White Paper: IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certification Programs Have Matured
After a significant number of well publicized cybersecurity attacks on automation systems, most plant owner/operators now recognize that a cybersecurity attack is a credible risk. The ICS owners/operators must improve cyber defenses if they want to even keep up in what has become an arms race of sorts. This effort…
White Paper: Incorporating Agile and Scrum into IEC 62443
There are many ways to produce a software product. The traditional Information Technology (IT) way of creating a product was to incorporate the waterfall model, where rigid requirements were laid out before development began. Over the years, an agile process where flexibility is paramount has become the norm. One of…
News Item: Cisco Systems Achieves exida IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certification
SELLERSVILLE, PA—exida, the global leader in functional safety and industrial cybersecurity certification, has certified Cisco System’s CSDL (Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle) engineering process for cybersecurity, ensuring it meets the requirements for IEC 62443 . exida is the global leader in cybersecurity certification and is a recognized ISO 17025 test lab…
Training Course: Process Hazard Analysis with PHAx™
This Course is Also Offered Online Process Hazard Analysis with PHAx™, FSE 242, details how the exSILentia PHAx™ module can be used to conduct HAZOP methodology based Process Hazard Analysis. This course is targeted towards students that are experienced in process hazard analysis who want to learn how to leverage…
Blog Entry: Back to Basics 15 - Architectural Constraints
Architectural constraints are limitations that are imposed on the hardware selected to implement a safety-instrumented function, regardless of the performance calculated for a subsystem. Architectural constraints are specified (in) according to the required of the subsystem, type of components used, and of the subsystem’s components. (Type A components are simple…
News Item: exida Launches Self-Paced Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) with exSILentia Course
Sellersville, PA: The global leader in functional safety services for the process industries, exida, has launched the self-paced training course FSE 243: Layer of Protection Analysis with exSILentia . FSE 243 explains how the exSILentia LOPAx™ module is used to conduct a Layer of Protection Analysis. This course is targeted…
News Item: exida FSE 100 Course to be Held in Rome, Italy
exida will be teaming up with Tecsa to deliver our flagship CFSE prep course FSE 100 - IEC 61511: FUNCTIONAL SAFETY ANALYSIS, DESIGN, AND OPERATION in Rome Italy October 21-25, 2019. Corso ufficiale exida in materia di sicurezza funzionale nell’ambito degli stabilimenti a rischio di incidente rilevante (D.Lgs. 105/2015) ,…
White Paper: Strategic Proof Testing
Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) are designed to provide automatic protection functions. A typical design includes a sensor to detect the potentially dangerous condition, a safety PLC and a remote actuated valve capable of taking action to prevent an accident. In a well designed chemical plant the potentially dangerous conditions occur…
Recorded Webinars: Management of Change For Alarm Rationalization
Management of change (MOC) is recognized as a crucial activity in OSHA’s process safety management regulation. It also a stage in the ISA-18.2 / IEC 62682 alarm management lifecycle. In this webinar, we will explore how
MOC is conducted in the context of Alarm Management. We will look at the basic flow of MOC and consider situations where improper changes to the alarm system can create a hazardous situation. Finally the webinar will look at how having a built-for-purpose tool like SILAlarm can support implementation of MOC associated with rationalization
Recorded Webinars: Proof Test Planning with exSILentia®
A key parameter to achieving your target Safety Integrity Level (SIL) is defining the proof test strategy for the devices in your Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs). Proof tests are performed on SIF equipment periodically to reveal any dangerous failures that could prevent the SIF from returning the process to the safe state. In the conceptual design, the frequency and effectiveness of the proof tests can dramatically affect the calculated results of your SIL Verification. This webinar reviews the impact of the proof test strategy on your achieved SIL, and shows how to specify a proof test procedure to ensure testing is carried out as intended, ensuring the integrity of your Safety Instrumented System (SIS).
Recorded Webinars: IEC61511 and Cybersecurity: Are Your Safety & Control Systems Really Protected?
When it comes to process safety, most companies will focus on the functional safety lifecycle and compliance with IEC61511. However, with the advent of the industrial internet of things (IIOT) and the growing use of wireless technologies, it is becoming more important to consider cybersecurity and the consequences of control and safety systems being compromised due to a cyber-related incident. Recent ransomware attacks such as Wannacry and NotPetya have again highlighted the need to be more vigilant when it comes to protecting control systems and OT infrastructure. The number of Malware attacks has risen exponentially over the past 10 years but still companies have been slow to react.
The update to IEC61511 in 2016 to include a cybersecurity assessment of an SIS, means companies can no longer procrastinate and/or delay reviewing any SIS for cyber vulnerabilities. Since the standards for functional safety (IEC61511) and cybersecurity (IEC62443) both follow a similar 3 phase lifecycle, it makes sense to consider these two together, when it comes to process safety. This means being just as vigilant with cybersecurity, as with functional safety. As such an integrated lifecycle approach will help in mitigating risk.
This webinar highlights the risks and need to address cybersecurity per the IEC61511 standard and the reasons why. Ignorance may be bliss until your system, network and plant becomes compromised. Then it’s a whole other story.
Woodward Industrial Controls - Gas Stop/Ratio Valve (SRV)
IEC 61508 in the Safety Automation Equipment List
Blog Entry: My Final Element Field Failure Data says 150 FITS and OREDA is 2000 FITS
I got an email saying that the exida's www.SILSafeData.com minimum failure rates were way too high. The email went on to say that his REAL field failure data showed a result of 150 FITS for a remote actuated valve assembly. The lowest SILSafeData limits for clean service, Class IV leakage,…