(54a) Goalzero SIS Functional Safety via Microsoft SharePoint

During twelve US Gulf Coast training events between April 2005 and May 2006, a survey was taken to collect general process plant feedback and personal observations concerning ANSI/ISA 84 [2] safety lifecycle practices. Ninety-one (91) functional safety professionals responded to provide a comprehensive view. The questions were based on potential benefits and implementation methods that had been identified from industry sources prior to the formal study.

The first international functional standard IEC 61511 1st Ed. [1] was released in 2003. The second version of ANSI/ISA84 [2] was release in 2004 in alignment with IEC61511 1st Ed. [1]. Two years after the release of IEC615111st Ed. [1], most American process industry manufacturers had not developed their implementation strategy. The reason is like most other personal and business decisions concerning limited time, resources, and money, which must be divided between immediate known needs (i.e. projects) and longer-term items that are less understood.

As of writing this paper, the American process industry, is only marginally closer to an implementation strategy meeting all requirements of the standard. The second international functional standard IEC 61511 2nd Ed. [3] was released in 2016. This latest release has significant changes that increases that gap between current implementation practices and full standard compliance.

The consensus standards [1], [2] pre-2016 have approximately 300 “shall” statements. The “shall” statements of IEC 61511 2nd Ed. [3] as well as each item under the “shall statements, cover over 650 individual requirements, for each safety function. Tracking the fulfillment of these requirements is a demanding task, and collections of tracking spreadsheets have not proven effective. Attempts have been made to meet the requirements with more capable, enterprise-level software solutions.

Are we over-engineering our solutions to meet these requirements? Is the solution too complex and doesn’t work well with your company’s current processes and practices? Do your tools improve safety and reliability?

This paper will review the implementation of comprehensive, off-the-shelf safety lifecycle tools that work with existing plant practices, are sustainable, simple, and importantly, cost effective. The exciting news to be presented is that Microsoft SharePoint^Ⓡ can bring all the requirements into focus and any company can obtain full ISA/IEC 61511 compliance.