Functional Safety
Ensuring Safety Through Expert Functional Safety Design
At Process Risk Consulting, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive Functional Safety Design services to businesses operating in high-risk industries. Our expertise is rooted in a deep understanding of international standards and a commitment to helping you achieve the highest levels of safety for your personnel, environment, and assets. We offer tailored solutions that focus on the correct identification, design and operation of your safety systems in response to process inputs, effectively mitigating unacceptable risks.
Our Functional Safety Design Services
Functional safety is a critical element of your overall safety strategy, concerning itself with the safety aspects that rely on the correct functioning of your systems. Process Risk Consulting provides expert design services that encompass:
Compliance with Key Standards:
We specialise in designing safety systems that adhere to globally recognised standards, including BS EN 61508 and BS EN 61511 (IEC 61511) for the process industry sector. These standards are increasingly used to demonstrate compliance with legal requirements and represent accepted good practice. Compliance is crucial, as regulatory bodies like the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Notified Bodies (NoBo) actively audit adherence to these guidelines.
Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Expertise:
Safety Integrity Level (SIL) is a measure of the reliability required for a safety function, quantifying the level of risk reduction. Our services include:
SIL Determination: Through thorough hazard and risk analysis of your processes and associated control measures, we determine the appropriate SIL to achieve the necessary risk reduction.
- SIL Verification: Ensuring that the identified SIF meets the required SIL in terms of hardware reliability and architectural constraints.
Safety Requirements Specification (SRS) Development: We develop detailed Safety Requirements Specifications (SRS) for each Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) identified. The SRS forms the basis of the design for the Safety Instrumented System (SIS).
Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs) and Systems (SIS) Design: We provide comprehensive design services for:
Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs): These are specific safety functions designed to detect hazardous events and take action to prevent or mitigate them, such as emergency shutdowns.
Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS): The complete safety system that implements and manages multiple SIFs. A SIS includes sensors (inputs), logic solvers (controllers), and final control elements (outputs). Our designs ensure that your SIS effectively monitors hazardous conditions and triggers necessary safety actions.Â
Our Lifecycle Approach to Functional Safety Design
Process Risk Consulting adopts a comprehensive functional safety lifecycle approach, as defined in BS EN 61508. This systematic approach ensures that safety is considered throughout the entire lifespan of your safety-critical systems. Our services cover key stages, including:
Process Hazard and Risk Assessment:
Our Team conducts thorough hazard and risk assessments to identify potential hazards and determine the necessary safeguards and Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs).
Safety Requirements Specification (SRS):
We prepare a detailed SRS for each identified SIF, specifying its mode of operation, target SIL, and design requirements.
Design and Engineering:
Our competent engineers utilise good engineering practices to design the Safety Instrumented System (SIS) to meet the SRS and the specified SILs.
Verification and Validation Planning:
We develop comprehensive test plans and specifications for Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) to verify the correct functioning of the SIS.
Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) Support:
We can provide personnel to monitor and ensure that the SIS is rigorously tested before delivery (FAT) and after installation (SAT) to verify that it meets the specified requirements.
Operation and Maintenance Planning:
We assist in developing plans for routine and abnormal operation, proof testing, preventative and breakdown maintenance to ensure the ongoing safety integrity of your systems.
Modification and Decommissioning Procedures:
We help establish procedures for authorising and controlling changes and for safely decommissioning SIS when necessary, including analysing the impact on functional safety.
Ensuring Competence and Best Practices
Process Risk Consulting recognises that the competence of personnel involved in safety lifecycle activities is paramount. Our team comprises experienced and competent engineers with the necessary knowledge, experience, training, and qualifications (including certified Functional Safety Experts) to deliver high-quality functional safety design services. We are committed to employing good engineering practices and staying abreast of the latest industry developments to provide you with the most effective and reliable solutions.
Contact Process Risk Consulting to discuss how our expert Functional Safety Design services can help you achieve a safer, more efficient, and compliant operation. We are your partner in navigating the complexities of functional safety and ensuring the integrity of your critical safety systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Functional safety, according to BS EN 61508, is“the freedom from unacceptable risk of physical injury or of damage to the health of people, either directly, or indirectly as a result of damage to property or to the environment”. It concerns safety elements that rely on the correct operation of a system or equipment in response to its inputs.
A SIS is thecomplete safety system that implements and manages multiple Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs).The key purpose of the SISÂ is to continuously monitors hazardous conditions and triggers safety actions whenneeded.
A SIF is aspecific safety function designed to detect hazardous events and take action to prevent or mitigate them. For example, a SIF might shut down equipment if a temperature sensor detects overheating
SIL is ameasure of the reliability of a safety function, expressed as the Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD). It defines how much risk reduction is required, with levels ranging from SIL 1 (lowest) to SIL 4 (highest). A higher SIL indicates greater required reliability and risk reduction.
Functional safety is crucial forpreventing injury or death of humans, spills to the environment, and loss of equipment or production. Incidents like the Buncefield fuel storage depot explosion in 2005 highlighted the importance of reliable and well-designed Safety Instrumented Systems. Regulatory bodies like the UK HSE are actively ensuring compliance with functional safety guidelines.
Key standards includeBS EN 61508which is the overarching standard for functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems, andBS EN 61511 (IEC 61511)which is specific to Safety Instrumented Systems for the process industry sector.
The functional safety lifecycle, as defined in BS EN 61508, is a model of thestages of safety management in the life of a system. It ensures that safety is addressed independently of functional issues throughout the system’s life. Key stages include hazard and risk assessment, safety requirements specification, design and engineering, testing, operation and maintenance, modification, and decommissioning.
Implementing functional safety management demonstratescompliance with regulations,reduces false alarms and nuisance trips,protects your license to operate,develops safer processes,reduces operating costs,increases efficiency and profitability, andraises stakeholder and public confidence.
Still have questions?
If you have any other questions or need further information, don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to help you!
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