Hi all, thanks for accepting. First of all, I am new in functional safety and sorry for my bad english😊. Actually I have some doubt about one of variable in PFDavg calculation namely mission time, couple of question to all: 1. What will happen in the end of mission time?should end user decommissioned the plant?or just replace everything and the mission time will get restarted? 2. If it depend on end user, than based on what consideration usually for them to determine the correct mission time?and what is the reason behind that? 3. Since by the time PFDavg will get derated, and SIL claimed may decreased over the time, shouldn't end user decide to set the mission time before the SIL/RRF drops beyond the rating it should be? Hope you guys can share your knowledge. Thanks,

Hi all (again), I am currently working with a Client which has asked me to carry out a C&I compliance assessment on vendor skid coming from China. The skid is fair size (approx. 400m²) as it contains a full Pyrolysis unit along with it's own BPCS Control System and Independent Fail Safe Controller. Among all the other C&I compliance checks I am doing, the Functional Safety checks is one of the main items on my radar. My initial TQ's to this particular vendor contain queriers around how they have managed their SIL rated trips, i.e. which Safety Standard have they complied with? and also what lifecycle documentation they can provide, i.e. Hazard Study Reports, SRS, SIL Verification Calcs, SIF Validation evidence etc? (I am awaiting their response) .. I often hear that we should treat Vendor packages as black boxes, however I believe there must be some level of assessment which must be carried out by the Principal Designer to ensure the equipment being supplied is compliant to our standards, and has followed robust safety lifecycle? My question to the team is, what sort of assessment would you carry out on 3rd party skids the size of this? Again, any opinions on this one would be hugely appreciated!

I would like to ask a question to all members of this group. I am curious whether topics related to functional safety are covered in technical university studies in your place of living. I am not referring to commercial training centers, but to the formal education system for engineers. A perspective from Poland: we have only one academic institution that seriously addresses this subject in its program. It's Gdańsk University of Technology at Faculty of Electrical and Control Eng. I had a great opportunity to work at this institution several years ago. Together with my colleagues we developed this field of knowledge there .

Hi All, I am currently writing a proof test procedure for a High-High Temperature SIF. The sensor is 3-wire RTD. After carrying out all the proof testing checks, I have included for an RTD Calibration check to be carried out at the end, using a decade box or loop calibration device e.g. Fluke 754). Reason being, I wanted to ensure the loop was functioning correctly still after disconnecting sensor wires etc, during the proof test. However, my Client has requested this to be removed from the Proof Test as this is done as part of other existing maintenance routines. Just want to get anyone's thoughts on this, as to whether it is overkill to include an RTD check, and I should simply just ask the user to check the RTD is within it's prescribed calibration date? Any opinions on this would be appreciated!

I have a question for you regarding the cybersecurity of SIS. Do you have any experience in this area? The IEC 61511 gives some requirement for analyzing SIS cybersecurity. I see in practice, that this topic is often overlooked and not part of a comprehensive risk assessment. From my perspective, this results from the fact that OT cybersecurity is still not well-developed. I have the impression that there is a significant lack of specialists in this field. An ordinary IT professional doesn't understand the operation of automation systems and control networks, and automation and control engineers don't have such in-depth knowledge of cyber threats. Do you see this problem in your own country? I have only basic knowledge in this field. Can you recommend any good sources of knowledge on this subject?