Functional Safety and SIL for Safety Instrumented Systems

Risknowlogy

Enrollment is Closed

Want to become a Safety Instrumented Systems certified FS Specialist, FS Engineer or FS Professional according to IEC 61511? Take this course to enhance your career and help implement SIFs correclty.

Safety instrumented functions are the last layer of protection and sometimes the first layer of prevention in the process industry. They play a majorly important role in the protection philosophy of process plants. Yet, it is estimated that, worldwide, over 99% (you read that correctly) of SIFs are not SIL compliant.

In this training course, we help you become a certified FS Specialist, FS Engineer or FS Professional. We teach you all you need to know about functional safety and how it applies to safety instrumented systems. With this knowledge, we prepare you for the associated exam if you want to achieve a personal knowledge certificate.

With this training, the associated exam and certification, you become part of the elite professionals that will improve the compliance of Safety Instrumented Systems. You will contribute significantly to achieving safer operating plants.

Course Overview

eLearning: Study at your own pace, at your own convenience
PDF download for note taking
50+ Videos with transcripts
Video case studies
Live Q&A sessions with trainer
Valuable discussions with your trainer and peers

Summary of key learning points
Action points for each lesson
Interim questions that count towards final exam
Final exam for those that opt for certification
Functional Safety IEC 61511 Specialist Certificate

Optional

TUV SUD Certificate

4 hours FS Consultancy

What you will learn

What functional safety means according to IEC 61511
How functional safety applies to your job
How functional safety applies to your SIFs and SIS
What FSM is and how to use it
Important FSM concepts
How end users use HAZOP and LOPA to decide what SIFs they need and how much SIL they must have
The four documents you need to plan and start building SIFs
The content of an SIS safety requirements specification (SRS)

Important hardware concepts like Type, Voting, HFT, SFF, etc.
The rules for selecting equipment and building architectures.
Difference between diagnostic tests and proof tests, and why it matters.
What PFD means and how to calculate PFD for a safety function.
The role of the PFD calculations and different PFD modelling techniques.
How to deal with application programs.
Three types of software to apply.
What end users need to do to operate, maintain and repair SIFs.

Requirements

Bring an open mind.
Willing less to learn ...
6 Years experience in the process industry.

Basic knowledge of functional safety is an advantage but not necessary.
Basic knowledge SIFs is an advantage but not necessary.
Time to study for the exam

Get Your New Knowledge Certified as FS Specialist, FS Engineer or FS Professional

All courses and workshops at Risknowlogy come with an optional exam and knowledge certification. At the end of this training, you can participate in an exam. If you pass the exam, and have 6 years industry experience you can get your knowledge certified.

This is how it works:

Follow the training in full
Fill out the form(s)
Pass the exam, you get:

Functional Safety Engineer (TUV) certificate* for those that obtain 60% or higher on the exam
Functional Safety Professional (TUV) certificate* for those that obtain 75% or higher on the exam
Functional Safety Specialist certificate for those that obtain 60% or higher on the exam
Functional Safety Specialist certificate with distinction for those that obtain 85% or higher on the exam

You can enroll today, and start the Specialist journey.

* Orderded seperately, at any time

FS Expert or FS Master Certification

This option is outside the scope of this course. It is a higher-level certification and focuses on practical experience you have with functional safety accoring to IEC 61511. With this course, you can get a combo deal if you want to include the certification of your practical experience as well. If you do not have practical experience yet we will help you. To achieve this certification, you need to:

Submit 2 case studies using our templates. You get the templates as part of this course.
Submit two references.
Interview.
The certification title depends on the number of hours you can prove. Based on this course, you can achieve Professional. But if you have enough hours also Expert or Master.

Course description

The main objective of this course is to allow specialists involved in safety instrumented systems to learn the fundamentals of functional safety and the requirements of the functional safety standard IEC 61511. A second objective is to give anybody attending the course the opportunity to certify their knowledge through an exam.

Functional safety is a knowledge-based profession. Do you want to be a FS Specialist? Do you want to be certified? Want to know if you learn something from this course? Answer these questions for yourself:

Do you know when you need to follow IEC 61508 instead of IEC 61511?
Do you know that there are 2 SILs and 2 Risk Reduction Factors for each SIF?
Do you know why most companies fail at functional safety?
Do you know how many requirements a SIF needs to fulfil to claim SIL according to IEC 61511?
Do you know you know what there are two PFDs? Do you know what the difference is?
Do you know if application program testing is done by FAT?
Do you know who is responsible for the safety requirements specification?
Do you know why partial stroke testing is not a diagnostic test and why that matters?

If you know the answers to the above questions, congratulations, you are a Functional Safety Expert. If not, this course is for you.

Course content

8 sections, 50+ lessons

Introduction to functional safety

Accidents in the news
What is (functional) safety?
Legal status
Application area
Layers of protection
Ssfety instrumented systems
Random, common cause and systematic failures
History of functional safety
Functional safety standards
Safety integrity level
Safety instrumented functions
Random, common cause and systematic failures
What is functional safety?

Functional Safety Management

Life cycle concept
Competency
Verification
Validation
Assessment
Audit
Documentation
Implementation and monitoring
Modifications
Configuration management
Tools

Hazard and risk analysis

How much safety is enough?
Risk management
Hazard identification
Hazard analysis
Risk reduction
HAZID, FMEA, FTA, HAZOP, ETA, LOPA, risk graph, risk matrix
Sequrity risk assessment
SIF description
Safety requirements specification

Planning the safety system

Planning for end users, system integrators
Implementation of SIS
Functional safety plan
Verification plan
Validation plan
Assessment plan
Audit plan
Overall SRS
Requirements for suppliers

Hardware design

Hardware life cycle - IEC 61511 and IEC 61508
De-energize versus energize
Low demand, high demand, continuous mode
Target faliure measure (PFDavg, PFH)
Redundancy
Diversity
Voting
Hardware fault tolerance
Type A, Type B
Subsysem failure modes
Diagnostic tests
Proof tests
Failure distribution
Safe failure fraction
Diagnostic coverage
Architectural constraints
Route 1h and route 2h
Proven in use, Prior use
SIL Myths

Hardware reliability - PFD

Reliability modelling
6 steps to peform a PFD calculation
Simplified equations
Failure data
Why a PFD calculation?
Tools
PFD Myths

Software design

Software life cycle - IEC 61511 AND IEC 61508
A typical software problem
Application program safety requirements specification
Embedded software
Application software
Utility software
Software systematic capability - IEC 61508
Full variability languages (FVL)
Limited variability languages (LVL)
Fixed programming languages (FPL)
Application program development
Application program design
Application program
Application program testing
V-model

Certification, prior use, proven in use, and data

Dilemma for end users, EPCs and system integrators
How to select the appropriate device
What is certification
What to look for in a certificate
What is prior use, proven in use
How to prove "prior use / proven in use"
Reliability data sources

Using the safety instrumented system

Installation and commissioning
Safety validation
Operation, maintenance and repair
Documentation
Modification and retrofit
Bypass procedures

Exam - For those applying for knowledge certification

Course Staff

Dr Michel Houtermans

Founder, owner and managing partner of Risknowlogy. Michel is a seasoned functional safety master, entrepreneur and international business consultant. He learned first about functional safety in 1994 when he read the IEC 61508 standards for the first time. Since then, he has only worked in the functional safety industry.

He worked with end users, EPCs, engineering partners, system integrators, product manufacturers, governments, third parties and insurance companies. Michel worked globally as functional safety consultant, assessor and certifier.

Functional safety practitioner since 1994
Succesfully consulted 50+ companies on FS
Certified 100+ safety products
Certified 150+ safety subsystems
Certified 400+ safety solutions

What do current students say about this course?

"This course has accelerated my development in the world of functional safety and has been a great aide in my day to day work. It could do the same for my colleagues." - Ashley James, United Kingdom

"It was a very educational course and hope to really enjoy the benefits of this in the future. The trainer was very competent and knows what he is talking about. Every colleague should follow this course, if only it was to understand FSM better." - M. de Kok, Rütgers Resins, Netherlands

"Trainer clearly explained the SIL concepts as they apply to SIS and I feel that I learned something really valuable for my job and career." - R. Saravannan, Petronash, UAE

"While working in oil & gas EPC industry, we come across the requirement of functional safety in all projects and proposals. Implementing functional safety has a cost. If it is not estimated correctly during the proposal stage, it may have serious financial implications during execution. So every engineer working in our industry should have training in functional safety.

Thank you for the great training! I learnt a lot from it and hope that it will help me perform better in my profession.' " - Rajadwid Goon, Petrofac, Sharjah

"Amazing training. Gained a lot of knowledge on how to deal with functional safety." - G. de Deckere, Dow Benelux, Netherlands

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the certificate expire?

Our training certificate do not expire. They are knowledge certificates, and knowledge certificates do not expire.

How is the final exam conducted?

The exam is online. You must log in to our platform to attend the exam. You can attend the exam at your convience. No need to schedule a time and date. Just make sure you complete the final exam before the end date.

Will I get a personal Safety Passport®?

Yes, everybody who follows a Risknowlogy training gets a personal, online, Safety Passport®.

What if I fail the exam?

Retake exams are gratis. Contact us, and we will schedule a new exam date with you.

Is the TUV certificate included?

It depends on the promotion you received and agreed to. If your promotion does not include the TUV certificate, you can always order it seperately.

Will I be listed on the TUV SUD website?

If the TUV certificate is included in your package, yes. If not, you need to order the TUV certificate seperately from us. TUV will add you to their website when your return the forms filled out and passed the exam.