Doug Nix will be giving the third session in the three-part Introduction to Functional Safety seminar series at the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society Virtual Chapter meeting.’ In this third…
Read MoreQ & A: Category 2 and Testing Intervals
During the Free Safety Talks that we did with Schmersal Canada and Franklin Empire, we had a “hot question” come up regarding Category 2 architecture and the testing interval requirement. The…
Read MoreFive reasons you should attend our Free Safety Talks
Reason #1 – Free Safety Talks You can’t argue with Free Stuff! Last week we partnered with Schmersal Canada and Franklin Empire to put on three days of Free Safety…
Read MoreSafe Drive Control including Safe Torque Off (STO)
Ed. Note: This article was revised 25-Jul-17 to include information on safe standstill. Safe Drive Control including STO Motor drives are everywhere. From DC variable speed drives and indexing drives,…
Read MoreHow to do a 13849 – 1 analysis: Complete Reference List
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. As promised in previous posts, here is the complete reference list for the series “How to do a 13849 – 1 analysis”! If you have any additional resources you…
Read MoreISO 13849 – 1 Analysis — Part 8: Fault Exclusion
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. Fault Consideration & Fault Exclusion ISO 13849 – 1, Chapter 7 [1, 7] discusses the need for fault consideration and fault exclusion. Fault consideration is the process of examining the…
Read MoreISO 13849 – 1 Analysis — Part 7: Safety-Related Software
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. Safety-Related Software Up to this point, I have been discussing the basic processes used for the design of safety-related parts of control systems. The underlying assumption is…
Read MoreISO 13849 – 1 Analysis — Part 6: CCF — Common Cause Failures
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. What is a “Common Cause Failure”? There are two similar-sounding terms that people often get confused: Common Cause Failure (CCF) and Common Mode Failure. While these…
Read MoreISO 13849 – 1 Analysis — Part 5: Diagnostic Coverage (DC)
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. What is Diagnostic Coverage? Understanding Diagnostic Coverage (DC) as it is used in ISO 13849 – 1 [1] is critical to analysing the design of any safety function assessed…
Read MoreISO 13849 – 1 Analysis — Part 4: MTTFD – Mean Time to Dangerous Failure
Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. Functional safety is all about the likelihood of a safety system failing to operate when you need it. Understanding Mean Time to Dangerous Failure, or MTTFD, is…
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