10 Truths of Safety Instrumented Systems

Operating companies in the process industries must face compliance with new safety standards such as IEC61508 and IEC61511, while implementing safeguards that provide asset protection, all without disrupting asset utilization or compromising production targets. What are the fundamental selection criteria for safety and critical control equipment? What key principles must be clarified in order to ensure successful selection and implementation of the system?

By learning the 10 truths of safety instrumented systems (SISs), you can improve your ability to engineer a system that complies with IEC and ANSI/ISA standards, increases uptime, and ensures optimal asset utilization.

Truths 1-3 are highlighted below. Click on the underlined topics for more information. Control Engineering will send you Truths 4-6 in July, and Truths 7-10 in September. Or, view all 10 Truths to ensure the success of your safety systems today.

Truth 1
SIL is a measure of safety, but has no impact on plant uptime .
SIL rating is a measure of the risk reduction capability and probability of failure-on-demand. It measures only the ‘Fail Safe’ nature of the device, and should not be the primary or sole measurement considered when selecting a safety system.

Truth 2
Quality of an SIS has a direct impact on plant performance .
Quality isn’t always implemented the same way by every company. Quality Assurance procedures differ between vendors, regardless of product compliance with safety standards and certifications. Nevertheless, a vendor must make sure that their SIS performs to the intended specification. Receive a FREE DVD “An Inside look at Triconex processes.”

Truth 3
Many companies will sell you a safety system, but few are able to address your specific needs . Operating companies in the process industries that are pursuing regulatory compliance represent tremendous potential for any manufacturer that offers some form of process control technology or automation. Many such manufacturers are scrambling to ensure their products offer some level of compliance for use in safety applications. Unfortunately, while most of these ‘new’ products offer solutions for the fail safe side, only a few of them can address the need for safety and process uptime simultaneously.