What are Installation, Commissioning and Validation?

This lifecycle stage is concerned with ensuring a client is following company procedures for Installation and Commissioning, confirming that the SIS as built meets the requirements of the SRS by way of Validation and preparing to hand over to Operations.

IEC 61511 provides a single page of guidance on Installation and Commissioning. The content of that single page describes activities that would be expected for any typical installation and commissioning project – be it for control or safety – such as checking earthing and bonding, calibrating instruments, checking serial links are communicating and making sure power supplies are operational. The standard does particularly highlight the need for these activities to be planned in advance.

SIS Validation is a critical step in the functional safety lifecycle as it confirms that the SIS has been designed and built so as to meet the original requirements (as expressed in the SRS). If the SIS does not meet the requirements of the SRS then (obviously) it is not fit for purpose. SIS Validation is typically called “Site Acceptance Testing” (SAT). Depending on the nature of the project, the SIS Logic Solver and field instrumentation may have been through an earlier validation step, which may be termed “Factory Acceptance Testing” (FAT). Both of these validation exercises need to be carefully planned and any changes that are required (because the SIS fails a validation test) need to be carefully managed.

SIS Installation and Commissioning, together with Validation activities, will be subject to an FSA 3. Since Installation, Commissioning and Validation (ICV) are normally under considerable time pressure, it is worth considering how the FSA 3 will be carried out. Since much of the FSA 3 will be looking at the planning of these activities, some parts of the FSA 3 could be carried out prior to the start of ICV. This may be a very effective way of reducing delay to handover to Operations.

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Dil Wetherill

CEO - Method Safety and Security

Dil launched Method Functional Safety in 2013. He now delivers training courses and provide consultancy on all aspects of functional safety.

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