Introduction to SIL Verification – 2 Day Training Course

SIL Verification Course Overview

This two day SIL Verification Course is intended to provide the fundamental knowledge and understanding required to undertake a SIL Verification study in the context of IEC 61508 and IEC 61511.

Performing a Random Hardware Failures Assessment (commonly referred to as SIL Verification) on a Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) is a key requirement specified in international standards IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. This requirement ensures that that the SIF meets the required target failure measure in terms of Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) or Probability of Failure per hour (PFH) as identified in the SIL Determination study.

Course Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants should have an appreciation of:

• The concept of Random Hardware Failures Assessment in the context of the requirements of IEC 61508 and IEC 61511
• The concept of a Safety Instrumented Function with respect to its functionality and its performance
• Safety Integrity and Safety Integrity Level (SIL)
• The concept of failure rate and diagnostics
• Criticality of defining Failure modes
• Modes of operation and associated Target Failures Measures
• The concept of Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) and Probability of Failure (PFH) when assessing random hardware failures
• The concept of Hardware Fault Tolerance (HFT) and Safe Failure Fraction (SFF) when assessing Architectural Constraints
• Reliability modelling techniques using Reliability Block Diagrams (RBDs) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
• Accounting for Common Cause Failures when assessing sub-systems with redundancy
• Criticality of choosing appropriate Failure Rate Data
• Impact of proof testing and partial stoke testing on the failure measure
• Use and application of the software package ProSet's SIL Comp Module to carry out reliability modelling

Qualifications, Skills, Competence gained

• Certificate setting out the key topics covered in the course.
• Knowledge of key concepts that underpin Reliability Modelling
• Understand the requirements for Random Hardware Assessments in the context of IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 standards.
• Understanding of Key Parameters and Tools to conduct an effective and efficient SIL Verification assessment
• Numerous Workshops throughout the course with real examples to allow the participant to undertake reliability modeling using both RBDs and FTAs

Who will benefit

The course is aimed at those who have responsibilities within the scope of IEC 61511. In particular:

• Plant managers of process plants who have responsibility for the management of functional safety involving Safety Instrumented Systems.
• Control and instrumentation engineers, Chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers who have a responsibility or have participated in SIL Determination exercises, specification, design, operation and maintenance of plants employing Safety Instrumented Systems.
• Engineers who have a responsibility to perform or review reliability calculations
• Systems integrators of Safety Instrumented Systems being designed to meet the requirements of IEC 61511

Course Evaluation

Course evaluation will be via feedback form.