Functional Safety Assessment

Introduction

Functional Safety Assessment (FSA) is a systematic review broken down into 5 stages (Stage 1 after initial Safety Requirements Specification (SRS) development, Stage 2 after detailed design, Stage 3 after installation and commissioning prior to hazards been introduce, stage 4 after gaining to operations and maintenance and stage 5 after modification or decommissioning) of all Safety Instrument Functions (SIFs).

Application

The FSA requires a systematic review of all SIF documentation ensuring that there is an auditable trail from process hazards and risk assessment through to the FSA stage been conducted.  This also requires the assessor to determine if adequate processes and failure data have been used to when assessing and verifying the SIFs, ensure all statutory and regulatory requirements have been accomplished and suitable engineering practices have been adopted for the design, engineering and installation to aid in meeting all IEC 61511 requirements and minimising systematic failures.

It is the responsibility of the assessor to use their engineering judgment and their experience to determine if the SIFs under assessment are suitable and sufficient to provide the defined risk reduction for the hazardous event identified and that as far as reasonably practicable the SIF shall be functionally safe.

Services

ProSalus regularly conducts FSAs for all stages within the IEC 61511 lifecycle.  We have experienced assessors from with extensive experience within the Process Industries and have been internally trained in the application of FSA methodology.