exida explains Blog

2011 was a good year in many ways for Functional Safety and Cyber Security. Several instrumentation products achieved IEC 61508 certification. exida Certification alone issued 64 product certifications (http://www.sael-onine.com).  With most certification projects, improvements to the design and quality are made.  Some manufacturers…

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While correcting a CFSP exam, I read a question which went something like this:

If you purchase all IEC 61508 certified equipment for a low demand safety instrumented function, then to meet the requirements of IEC 61511:

A. No other design verification is needed

B.…

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I am told that plagiarism is a compliment. Since exida is the leading company for IEC 61508 certifications I suppose it was bound to happen. Well it did. exida got an email from our sales representative in China. He asked why this certificate was not listed on the…

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We have CMMI processes at CL3; does that help us get IEC 61508 certification for SIL 3?

Companies that deliver a product or service do so by following a sequence of processes.  High quality deliverables are a result of high quality processes and continuous improvement in…

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So you downloaded a product certificate from the exida website and you are trying to understand the information documented in the certificate.  Also, you likely want to know what stands behind the certificate and what was involved in the certification of the product.
 
I’m not…

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Click here to read Part 1

Now that you know the step-by-step process of product certification, now let’s take a look at the actual information on the certificate. 

In the left panel (gray background) you will find an exida certification logo. …

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There have been passionate debates in email and meetings about “Proven In Use” versus IEC 61508 certification. Most debates characterize these evaluation techniques as competing methods.  In 2000 when IEC 61511 was being written there were few IEC 61508 certified products on the market. The…

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I have often heard the question “Who says they can issue a certification?”  This is often accompanied by “Why can’t I certify my own product?”  “Who knows our design better than we do?” Good questions.

The IEC 61508 standard does not require certified products for Functional Safety. …

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I was recently approached with a question regarding why it would be necessary to certify mechanical devices, such as valves, per IEC 61508 when it is not clearly stated in the standard that the standard is applicable to such devices.  After looking through IEC 61511 and Read More...