The devices you use in your safety instrumented systems DO NOT have to be certified! We're cutting through the noise to give you the facts on what truly matters for functional safety.
In this episode we discuss the actual requirements—the principles, standards, and engineering practices—that dictate a device's suitability.
You achieve a given SIL target by running a calculation that verifies you achieved the proper probability of failure on demand, yet the standards committee doesn’t trust to do that properly….
How should the safety instrumented system respond to adetected failure? Well, it will respond however you want it to respond…
Unscrupulous equipment vendors often bury critical safety information in a product's safety manual to get their products certified. Therefore, it's essential to read the manual thoroughly to uncover any potential hazards.
Join us as Ed discusses this topic in more detail.
Energize to trip or de-energize to trip, that is the question… and the answer is… you can do whatever you want…
A device used by the SIS shall not be used by the BPS (unless that’s what you really want to do) ….
Join Ed to hear his thoughts, experience and insights as he digs further into Clause 11.2.9 to 11.2.10.
In this week’s podcast Ed discusses clause 11.2.8, which is all about manual shutdowns. The session ranges from the apocryphal or true OG manual shutdown that traces back to the Manhattan project - the SCRAM - to a second hand story of why a toilet malfunction generated the requirement that manual shutdowns be independent of the logic solver.
Once the Safety Instrumented System brings the system to a safe state, it should remain in that state until an operator manually intervenes.
This topic is explored in more detail with a discussion of clause 11.2.6 to 11.2.7 of the IEC 61511 standard.
We've finally arrived at clause 11 titled SIS Design and Engineering, which is where the core work happens! This episode, the discussion focuses on sections 11.1 to 11.2.5.
After several weeks of laying the groundwork on SafetyRequirements Specifications (SRS), we're back for a more focused discussion.
This episode, we're zeroing in on SRS specifically for application software by discussing clauses 10.3.3 to 10.3.6
Wow! There are a lot of things in the safety requirements specifications clause. It has taken us several episodes, but we finally get to finish up the discussion on this section.
In this episode, we dive deeper into the requirements forstarting up and re-starting Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). Wasn’t this already covered in bullet point 16?
Join us as we revisit Clause 10.3.2 to clarify any confusion and unpack what’s really required when bringing SIS back online.
“Fail safe” is a common term—and it sounds great. Who wouldn’t want things to fail safe? But here’s the thing: can we ever really guarantee that?
Join us as we unpack what “fail safe” really means, why it’s not always as foolproof as it sounds, and what that means in the real world.
When a shutoff valve is told to close, the movement is just the beginning. Behind that simple action lies a complex web of consideration. In today’s episode, we’re diving into what really happens when a valve is commanded to shut, and why there’s so much more to it than meets the eye.
Process Safety Time is one of the most complex andchallenging aspects of the 61511 standard, which is why it will be shifting to MERT.
In this episode, CEO of Kenexis Ed Marszal, continues his discussion of Safety Requirements Specifications as found in clause 10.3.2 of the IEC61511 standard.
In this episode, we’re diving into the concept of Safety Requirements Specification. What exactly does it mean, and why is it more complex than you might think? Stay tuned as we break it down and explore its importance in functional safety.
In this episode, we explore an important question in the world of functional safety: Can a basic process control system be considered a valid protection layer?
We’ll dive into the circumstances under which it may be appropriate to give it credit, and discuss the factors that determine how much credit should be assigned.
Stay tuned as we unpack this critical topic and provide insights to help you navigate the complexities of functional safety systems.
If your risk analysis has led you to conclude that you need a SIL 4, that’s a red flag. It’s likely time to go back to the drawing board and reassess.
In today’s episode, we’ll explore why this might be the case and how to approach functional safety to avoid overestimating risk levels.
Clause 8 and Clause 9 in the IEC 61511 standard are both required to obtain your SIL targets.