Functional Safety | Information Training and Certification

When operators of this unit shown above use Personal Protection Equipment such as helmets, gloves or safety shoes, they are following principles of Occupational Safety.

In a nutshell, in a manufacturing plant, especially in the process industries such as Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Power generation, Nuclear and similar we achieve safety via Process Safety, Functional Safety and Occupational Safety.

In case the plant or facility has materials that are flammable or explosive, then we also use principles of Hazardous Area management, to ensure safety.

In case the facility uses electronic systems Automation systems such as DCS or PLC or SCADA (basic process control systems) or a SIS (safety related system), then we also need to maintain cyber security of these systems in order to ensure overall safety.

Read this to know more about what is a Safety function.

Abhisam has online courses, workshops & consulting services on all the above areas. On this page, we will be only discussing Functional Safety, Safety Intergity Level (SIL) and and Safety Instrumented Systems.

You can explore other pages of the Abhisam site to get more information on HAZOP, LOPA, Hazardous Area Classification, Industrial Cybersecurity, Personal Protective Equipment and similar related subjects.

Which Functional Safety Standards are important?

The IEC 61508 standard is considered as the mother standard in the world of Functional Safety. Other sector specific standards are based on this principal standard. IEC 61508 has seven parts, the first four are normative (means mandatory to claim compliance with the standard) and others are informative (just for information on how to meet the requirements of the standard). In the process industry IEC 61511 is the accepted international standard worldwide.

The US uses ISA S84, but this is now almost identical to IEC 61511.

In the automotive sector, ISO 26262 is the primarily accepted functional safety standard, whereas in the machinery it is IEC 62061. There is also an ISO functional safety standard for machinery, ISO 13849.

In the railway industry there are three functional safety standards, EN 50126, EN 50128 and EN 50129- the entire set is based on IEC 61508.

There are other sector specific functional safety standards, such as IEC 61513 for the nuclear industry. Where no sector specific standard exists, we can use IEC 61508.

However, it must be noted that even a sector specific standard does reference back to the main standard IEC 61508, so we should have a good idea of both.

 For example, in the process industry, the safety instrumented functions are designed as per IEC 61511 (or ISA S84), but the devices used in these functions, such as sensors, transmitters, safety logic solvers, relays, final control elements such as actuators, all have to conform to IEC 61508.

Many times, engineers are focused only on hardware failures. However, every functional safety standard, covers hardware failures, systematic failures (including software failures and management failures) and common cause failures for the safety function. If we are able to reduce all these three types of failures to a great extent, then we will have a good functionally safe system that is part of the overall safety of the plant.

Our safety requirements must address all these types of failures.

The Safety Life Cycle approach

One of the main concepts of these standards, is their focus on the Safety Lifecycle. This approach means that ensuring safety is not a one off target, but it must be done continuously and match the entire lifecycle of the plant or equipment.

This starts from the concept stage, then hazard and risk analysis, then deciding the safety requirements, then designing the safety functions (and also other means of risk reduction that contribute to overall safety), installation, validation, commissioning and finally decommissioning at the end of the plant or machinery life.

In between, if there are any modifications, then these are also part of the safety lifecycle and some steps need to be done again.

Functional Safety Management

Management of Functional Safety is a very important part of the Safety Life cycle. Since the life period of a typical plant or an equipment can sometimes easily exceed  even 50 years, we need good management to manage the Functional Safety over the entire life of the asset.

This is emphasized in all functional safety standards, be it IEC 61508 or ISO 26262 or any other. You may have the best safety functions & control systems designed and installed, but if you have poor management, then it may not really work over the life of the plant or equipment.

Where can I learn more about this?

Please see some useful functional safety training courses below.

Also read this guide on How Functional Safety cannot work well without  Industrial Cybersecurity.

Functional Safety Online Courses

We have the following Functional Safety Online Certification Courses (e-learning courses) related to Functional Safety and SIL. Every course, consists of several modules that have text, animations & simulations, graphics, assessments, examples, real life case studies that help you become a professional. You can complete them from the comfort of your home or office or anywhere else. You can take them online over the internet via any device such as your laptop/PC/tablet/ipad/smartphone or PC.  On passing the associated exam, you can get qualified as a professional, earn an electronic certificate with a unique ID number and an electronic badge that can be added to your Linked In Profile or other places online such as email signatures. This displays your qualifications and competencies to your colleagues, peers, bosses and potential employers and clients. Note that however, we do not have any automotive functional safety courses related to ISO 26262.