Learn the basics of Functional Safety and Safety Integrity Level
Mumbai, Dec 12, 2011- Abhisam Software informs us that they have arranged a training workshop on Basics of Functional Safety and Safety Integrity Level, in Mumbai, India on 6th Feb 2012. The last such workshop that took place in Sep 2011 was very popular and hence this second workshop has been planned.
There is a lot of curiosity in India about Safety Integrity Level (SIL), Functional Safety and related topics but very little information is available for say, a design engineer who wishes to understand the concept of SIL or for an Instrument vendor who would like to certify his transmitter as “SIL 3″ compliant. There are also a lot of misconceptions and myths surrounding SIL which is tragic. There is confusion amongst some engineers for example between verification and validation, about what constitutes a Safety Function and whether it is the same thing as an interlock, whether redundancy and voting are the same thing, whether 2003 is better or worse than 1002 and so on….
Local manufacturers are not clear how to get their products certified to SIL and they hence lose out to products of a similar quality, but which have the SIL tag on them.
All these problems and questions will be answered in this information packed one day workshop. Educating participants and fielding various questions will be Dr. Michel Houtermans, the world’s leading authority on Functional Safety, Safety Instrumented Systems and SIL. Dr. Houtermans will be present in India to carry out a series of workshops and training programs in February and this a good opportunity to meet and understand the following:
- Introduction to Functional Safety and SIL
- History of functional safety
- Industries applying Functional Safety- Case Studies
- How does SIL affect me, my products and my company?
- How to determine the SIL level?
- How to design for SIL?
- What role does certification play?
- What is a “SIL study”?
- Is SIL 3 better than SIL 1? …… and much more.
Interested participants may contact Abhisam Software India office to get the details.
Du Pont fined $750,000 by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Dec 12, 2011, Washington DC- It appears that DuPont may be fined $750,000 by the The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, says a report published by WDEL. The fine is for more than 60 violations of safety and environmental standards at a facility near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Apparently some hazardous substances were improperly handled and discharged at its Chambers Works facility in Salem County.
In 2006, DuPont was fined $105,000 after the department investigated more than 220 chemical spills at the site. In addition to the fine, the company must also furnish a plan to improve chemical handling procedures at the facility.
It was not clear how the quantum of the fine was decided.
Learn about Functional Safety, Safety Integrity Level (SIL), SIL Certification and more!
Mumbai, Nov 28th, 2011- Abhisam Software informs us that they have arranged an introductory course in Functional Safety on 6th Feb 2012 in Mumbai, at Hotel Kohinoor Continental, Andheri near the airport. The last such program was held on 26th Sep 2011 in Mumbai, which was attended by several engineers, managers and professionals from several sectors such as Automation & Control, Oil & Gas, Engineering Consulting and others.
The course will cover everything related to Functional Safety at an introductory level. It will answer key questions that are asked by many engineers and safety professionals, in relation to Safety Integrity Level (SIL) and Functional Safety.
These are:
- What is Hazard and Risk?
- What is Functional Safety?
- What does SIL mean?
- What are the IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 standards?
- What SIL applies to my plant, instrument or location?
- How can I get my products “SIL compliant?
- What are Safety Instrumented Systems?
- What do you mean by a “SIL Study”?
- How do I get a SIL Certificate for my transmitter, valve or other device?
These and many other questions will be answered by Dr. Michel Houtermans, Managing Partner, Risknowlogy , who is considered to be the world’s leading expert on Functional Safety and SIL.
This training program is something that is useful to Instrumentation & Control System manufacturers, system integrators, engineering consultants, electrical and instrument contractors as well as users in the process industries such as Oil & Gas, Petroleum, Chemicals, Fertilizers, Power and similar industries that utilize complex safety and emergency shutdown systems to keep their plants, people and the environment safe. It will also be of interest to regulatory authorities who supervise these industries.
For more details please contact Abhisam Software . Seats are limited and will be allotted on a first come first serve basis.
Explosion reported at Nuclear Power Plant at Fukushima Japan
March 12, 2011- The situation at Japanese nuclear facilities now seems to be dire, with a reported explosion in the vicinity of the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at Fukushima, Japan. Not only this particular site but upto five other sites may be in a dangerous state of operation, say reports. Below is an interview of an expert posted on YouTube regarding an assessmnet of the situation. This is like a nightmare begun for Japan, as well as the rest of the world. Apparently the cooling water pumping failures were caused by the loss of backup power generators that drive the cooling water pumps due to severe damage in the earthquake and Tsunami. Though the reactor buildings themselves are suppposed to be designed to take care of earthquakes, even of this magnitude, the cooling water systems, which are critical for the safe shutdown of the plant apparently are not, going by the sequence of events. There are multiple backup power sources for such critical functions, but in this case the tsunami seems to have crippled all the backup systems. It is unclear how the authorities and experts are planning to handle this increasingly dire situation. Initially residents within a 2 Km radius around the plant were ordered to be evacuated, then after problems continued, residents within a 10 Km radius were also ordered evacuated, then again residents within a 20 Km radius were evacuated and now the latest reports say that residents have been urged to not venture out at all. This may be beacuse radiation may have already contaminated the air for miles around, similar to the Chernobyl accident.
Meanwhile the Japanese government has denied that the explosion affected the actual reactor. Only the outer containment building was affected, the roof of which blew off. This is not good at all as this building is supposed to trap the radioactive material that may come out of the metallic containment vessel surrounding the reactor. One hopes that the actual reactor is in a safer condition than what appears. Radiation rates have increased significantly, with unconfirmed reports citing figures that the daily radiation in the area now equals the total radiation over a year!
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, that runs the plant says that four workers were injured in the explosion.
Other experts opine that since the reactor is a light water reactor, a Chernobyly type incident cannot happen. This must be surely good news to everybody around the area. A loss of coolant may cause a temperature rise, but it will also decelerate the reaction, according to the expert.
More information is available at the link here (at the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists).
