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Blog Entry: Tracing and Validation Test Planning
Please see the first entry of the Requirements Management blog series here Please see the second entry of the Requirements Management blog series here So, you have a set of detailed safety requirements. You have derived them down to a level of detail you feel spells out what the product…
News Item: exida Presenting at 5th CCPS Latin American Conference on Process Safety
exida’s Jonathan de los Santos and Alejandro Esparza will be presenting at the 5th CCPS Latin American Conference on Process Safety , which will be held August 12-14, 2013 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The session is titled “Using Alarms As An Independent Layer of Protection (IPL) in the Safety…
Blog Entry: Allocation vs. Derivation
Please see the first entry of the Requirements Management blog series here . The concepts of allocation and derivation are sometimes misunderstood when it comes to requirements management. This can lead to confusion and even to safety problems. The process of derivation involves the writing of a new requirement, based…
Teledyne-Detcon - TP-700 Hydrogen Sulfide Sensor
IEC 61508 in the Safety Automation Equipment List
Blog Entry: I have just one more, small change…
How many development teams have heard those few, innocent words uttered from Marketing/Management toward the end of the development phase of a project, only to have their schedule blown out of the water? The phase of development into which the change is introduced determines the size of the concentric rings…
Blog Entry: Fire, Aim, Ready!
There is usually a natural order to things. But there are times when the natural order gets disrupted, and this could be for any number of reasons: we get busy, overloaded with tasks or information, tired, complacent, etc. But when you think about it, most of the excuses we make…
Blog Entry: Safety Training Benefits Safety Culture
While attending the Offshore Technology Conference , I heard a speaker make the point that studies substantiate that employees who are trained in safety are involved in fewer accidents. Those of us who promote and provide training in safety, this comes as no surprise. But it was his next point…
Blog Entry: If There Was ONE THING to Know About Functional Safety
Formalize your process. Companies often have a pretty good hardware development process in place, dealing with electrical and mechanical drawings, bills of material, and the factory floor interface. Most of these processes are in place so the manufacturing department knows what to make and how to put it together. The…
Blog Entry: Why Do We Need You?
This was a question posed to me by an engineering contractor the other day. Although I found the question quite strange, it made me think “okay, why do they need us?” I suppose there are a few answers: Regarding the end user perspective, we exist to provide an independent third-party…
Blog Entry: Make IEC 61511 into a Cookbook?
IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 are known as “performance” based standards. Specific design rules, as found in “prescriptive” standards, are not included, allowing for innovation and new technology, as well as creativity and advancement. However, it does imply that a certain level of competency is required. Others would strongly argue…
Blog Entry: When is an Independent Protection Layer (IPL) Not a Safeguard?
We are going to continue discussing the results from exida’s recently published industry benchmark survey on the practices for the use of alarms as safeguards and IPLs. Over 200 safety practitioners from around the world provided responses. This entry will discuss the relationship between alarms identified as safeguards and those…
Blog Entry: How do You Compare?
Industry Benchmark Survey on Alarms as Safeguards and Independent Protection Layers (IPLs) exida recently conducted an industry benchmark survey on the practices for the use of alarms as safeguards and IPLs. With over 200 safety practitioners from around the world providing responses, you can use the survey findings to compare…
News Item: exida Welcomes Senior Cyber Security Engineer Eric Persson
exida would like to extend a warm welcome to Senior Cyber Security Engineer, Eric Persson. Mr. Persson has over 20 years of experience as a hands-on IT Manager for multi-national companies, and over 5 years’ experience in the field of process control cybersecurity and Industrial Networks. He comes most recently…
Blog Entry: The exida Scheme
Today I was asked: “What is the exida Scheme?” If one person had this question, it is likely that others may be interested as well. Therefore, I decided to take a moment and explain the exida structure. Any Certification Body operates each product certification per a “scheme,” which references standards,…
White Paper: Tips for Starting an Alarm Management Program
Using the ISA-18.2 standard can help process engineers understand, simplify, and implement a sustainable alarm management program. Congratulations. You’ve been assigned the task of establishing an alarm management program for your facility. So where and how do you begin? This article presents four practical tips for starting an effective and…
News Item: “Tips for Starting an Alarm Management Program” featured in Applied Automation
Todd Stauffer, exida’s Director of Alarm Management has co-authored an article titled “Tips for Starting an Alarm Management Program.” This article has been featured in Applied Automation, a supplement to Control Engineering magazine . A brief introduction to the article can be found below: Congratulations! You’ve been assigned the task…
Blog Entry: Root Cause Analysis
Root Cause Analysis - finding out what happens when a failure occurs, and why it happened in the first place. There are many reasons for root cause analysis. The “system” design can be improved to prevent some of the failures from happening again and those who troubleshoot can do so…
News Item: ISA-18.2 Approves Technical Report 3 on Basic Alarm Design
The ISA-18.2 committee recently voted to approve ISA-TR18.2.3 Basic Alarm Design. This technical report is designed to provide guidance, rationale, and examples on the Basic Alarm Design process as described in ISA-18.2, Clause 10. It covers the selection of alarm attributes, including types, deadbands, and delay times. “Publication of this…
News Item: COUNTERFEIT EXIDA SAFETY CERTIFICATIONS HAVE ONCE AGAIN BEEN DISCOVERED
exida, an accredited global Certification Body, has discovered a counterfeit certificate falsely claiming that a product meets the functional safety requirements for Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 capable per IEC 61508. The exida “open certification” scheme goes beyond other programs, including the maintenance of an online certification database, which allows…
Blog Entry: Certificate Forgery!
exida has discovered yet another forged functional safety certificate. You can read about another occurrence in a previous blog entry . The company name on the forged certificate is ISP SA DE CV, Cunduacan, Tab., Mex. How could someone think this would not be checked? exida maintains a list of…
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