PROCESS SAFETY FEATURE MANAGING THE LIFE CYCLE OF SAFETY
the long-term availability of spare parts or compatible successor products for HIMA safety controllers. This ensures the availability of the deployed products and compatible spare parts for a period of more than 25 years. Thanks to modular design, it is also
According to Thomas Janzer, senior manager, HIMA Paul Hildebrandt, it is important to consider the safety system when carrying out plant upgrades, and manage its life cycle accordingly
T
o enable efficient production, every plant operator is faced with the task of
ensuring trouble-free operation. Safety and availability have top priority in this regard. To ensure long-term productivity and availability, upgrades and extensions are regularly carried out on existing plants. Critical safety systems must also be kept up to date and future-proof, since they are essential for maintaining productivity. But updates to safety systems are often only initiated when there are problems or changes to the plant. Active life cycle planning is often not given sufficient attention, even though it is necessary to avoid unpleasant surprises and high consequential costs. The above-mentioned considerations
make it clear that predictive life cycle management of safety controllers is worthwhile. Due to the complexity of the subject, it is advisable to get competent external experts on board for this. A comprehensive system assessment forms the basis for effective life cycle management. This includes aspects such as examining the system and its state of maintenance at all levels, checking the training and professional expertise of the employees, and appraising the safety measures against security threats. The system assessment shows whether a
plant operator can ensure functional safety for the protection of people, equipment and the environment in all phases of the life cycle and in compliance with the standard. Functional Safety Management (FSM) is an important component for long-term assurance of the safety and standard conformance of a plant. The elements of effective FSM include a safety plan, internal
assessments, audits and the two-person principle, as well as procedures and checklists for carrying out the activities in the safety life cycle. Functional safety assessment (FSA), which checks compliance with the requirements of the IEC 61511 standard, must be carried out at regular intervals in all operation and maintenance phases. According to IEC 61511 Edition 2, risk
analysis and IT security measures are necessary to identify the security vulnerabilities of safety devices. Carrying out an IT risk analysis is largely the responsibility of the plant operator – not the supplier or the manufacturer of the safety systems. To ensure future-proof production capability, every operator should therefore carefully check their critical safety systems or have them checked by an external party. The longest possible lifetime and long-
term availability of the safety systems are also in the interest of the plant operator, since that makes them more future-proof and predictable. Compatibility is also a major consideration in the modernisation of plants. The HIMA philosophy includes
Safety systems must conform to current good practices and comply with strict safety standards in all phases of the plant life cycle. Errors can lead to unscheduled plant downtime or even critical disruptions
possible to effectively add new functions to older systems. Particularly with networked systems, a stepwise and planned approach – phased modernisation – is recommended. This ensures that after modernisation, the system will still be able to communicate and work with all available systems. The aim should be to opt as much as possible for components that have the same or similar function and exactly the same footprint as the existing equipment, which simplifies the process. The HIMA Smart Safety platform, for example, implements this concept. The uniform hardware and software simplifies extensions, updates and modifications. Existing systems can also be integrated in the platform. Experience with safety-critical
applications shows that every life cycle phase should be supported by safety experts and that obsolescence should be dealt with in a timely manner to ensure long-term plant availability. Predictive life cycle management, which constantly monitors the actual state of a system, additionally ensures that components or systems can be replaced in a planned manner during regularly scheduled plant shutdowns or turnarounds. This prevents unscheduled plant downtime. A system assessment forms the basis for
Thomas Janzer, senior manager service product portfolio, HIMA Paul Hildebrandt
Life cycle management of safety controllers helps future-proof production
Images © HIMA Paul Hildebrandt
life cycle management. On conclusion of evaluation of the system assessment, plant operators receive clear recommendations with respect to necessary life cycle activities, employee training, upgrade and modernisation planning, and spare parts management. Based on this, they can jointly formulate a sound life cycle management plan that makes the safety system, as well as the plant, future-proof. Technology, standards and threats, such as security threats, are constantly changing. It is therefore highly recommended to carry out annual analyses of the safety systems in order to draw reliable conclusions about any other necessary maintenance activities. The objective is to take advantage of current technologies while at the same time avoiding obsolescence and neutralising known issues in order to enhance reliability. This additionally ensures compliance with all relevant safety standards and allows downtime to be minimised, which makes the entire plant more profitable and more productive.
HIMA
www.hima.com
PROCESS & CONTROL | APRIL 2019 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
