Over the past couple of decades, the process industries have seen many changes when it comes to the design and implementation of emergency shutdown/safety systems. The introduction of several international and regional standards requires a more rigorous approach to the overall safety lifecycle of a system compared to the use of best engineering design practices of the past. As a result, a broader and significant increase in the implementation of these standards has been noted within the industry.
The standards most commonly being referenced by customers are:
- IEC 61511: Functional Safety – Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector
- ANSI/ISA-84.00.01 (IEC 61511 Mod) – Functional Safety: Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector
- IEC 61508: Functional Safety of Electrical, Electronic, Programmable Electronic Safety Related Systems
