Safety in the Process Industries

Guiding Principles to the Implementation of IEC-61508

SIPI Project Press Release
May 02

European Commission Supports development of IEC-61508 Implementation Guidelines

The European Community has sanctioned a project, SIPI61508, to develop a set of guidelines for the implementation of IEC-61508. The project is an Accompanying Measure within the EC Framework V Growth Programme.

The key objective of the project, spanning 2 years, led by ABB, supported by partners Hima and Aston Dane, is to provide the EU Process and Allied industries with a set of Guiding Principles for the achievement of safe industrial processes through a unified approach to the implementation of IEC-61508. These Guiding Principles will accelerate the understanding and facilitate uniform interpretation and implementation of the international functional safety standard 61508.

IEC-61508 covers functional safety of electrical, electronic and programmable systems and constitutes international best practice for safety systems whose failure can impact on the safety of persons and the environment.

The Guiding Principles will ensure that European industry exploits as rapidly as possible the benefits that IEC-61508 offers, reducing capital and operational costs of systems, whilst maintaining safety performance and protecting people, environment and assets. They will improve communication, assist regulatory bodies in ensuring that new systems do not introduce new intolerable risks and reduce both assessment time and time to market.

The project will have an impact on all EU member states, including the EU Accession States, helping them in the acceleration of the take-up of the standard, providing a quantum improvement in safety performance and commercial edge.

The project will canvas views across the EU via a series of (2 day) workshops and technology transfer events at selected European venues, gathering essential information from the process industry community to enable the Guiding Principles to be developed in a pragmatic and cost effective manner. These workshops will ensure the maximum publicity for IEC-61508 and this project. Workshops are planned in Norway, Netherlands and the UK during 2002. More will follow during 2003; Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Ireland, Hungary and Spain are potential venues.

The challenge and primary focus of the project is to optimise and harness the ‘hands-on’ experiences of organisations and individuals, to encourage them to share their implementation experiences to a wider audience in a way which is accessible, uniform, responsive, user-friendly and matches the pace of learning to the recipients needs.

For further information and to express an interest in participating in the workshops please contact the project co-ordinator Stuart Nunns Email: stuart.nunns@sipi61508.com or partners Tino Vande Capelle Email: tino.vdc@sipi61508.com and Chris Birtles Email: chris.birtles@sipi61508.com