Goble, W.
HP Automation Safety: Are you the designated jailee?
In a popular European industry newsletter, I spotted an unsettling story—"Criminal proceedings have been commenced against Total UK Ltd., Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd., British Pipeline Agency L..
HP Automation Safety: Value of failure data
A good instrumentation failure tracking system can provide many benefits; most are linked to saving money and to increasing plant performance. So, why isn't this common practice? Many companies in the..
HP Automation Safety: Accounting for process connections in SIS design
 Many safety instrumented system (SIS) designers understand what happens when the process connection to a pressure transmitter gets plugged. The transmitter output will likely get very sluggish a..
HP Automation Safety: Biggest design mistakes in SIS
I can just imagine the debate and opinions that arise regarding design mistakes. So, what is the biggest design mistake in safety instrumented systems (SISs)? Some would quickly explain that the great..
Satisfying safety standard competency requirements
Deploying a robust, IEC conformant safety instrumented system requires uncompromised competency in every step of the process
HP Automation Safety: Still not using a safety PLC?
The concept of using a special-purpose programmable logic control (PLC)/controller designed for fail-safe operation started over 25 years ago. The early programmable machines were designed applying th..
HP Automation Safety: All failures are systematic
      For many years, a debate has been ongoing over random vs. systematic failures. Why all the fuss? In functional safety work, one must treat "systematic" failures very differently f..
HP Automation Safety: IEC 61511 – Momentum for change in 2007
Many good things are happening in the world of functional safety. At the top of the list is the acceptance and adoption of IEC 61511 by companies of the hydrocarbon processing industries. ANSI – ..
HP Automation Safety: Required: competent personnel
The ANSI ISA 94.00.01-2004 (IEC 61511 Mod) standard has a clear statement about personnel competency. It says, "Persons, departments or organizations involved in safety life cycle activities shall be ..
HP Automation Safety: Fieldbus in safety applications
Many engineers remember the original ISA S84.01 safety standard of 1996, which stated, "As new technology evolves and becomes available (e.g., ISA SP50 Fieldbus), it will be addressed in future versio..
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