Technica Assist Centrica Storage Limited with the production of functional safety compliance policies 150 150 Technica Ltd

Technica Assist Centrica Storage Limited with the production of functional safety compliance policies

Technica has been working closely with Centrica Storage Limited (CSL) to produce a suite of standards, strategies and policy documents to aid compliance with the functional safety lifecycle requirements of IEC-61511:2016 ‘Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector’.

Technica has also developed subsequent complimentary standards which have been endorsed and published by CSL for their lifecycle activities. The Technica policies for proof testing, failure reporting and demand tracking of Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) have also been endorsed and published by CSL.

The documents identify roles and responsibilities for functional safety within CSL, detailing the requirements for competency and the competency levels required for each role. To supplement and help demonstrate existing competencies within CSL staff, Technica have provided functional safety training and training assessment tailored to the CSL functional safety management standards.

To ensure compliance with the standards and policies, Technica provided verification of CSL’s identified SIL (Safety Integrity Level) rated safety instrumented functions using the ABB IEC-61511 compliant software tool ‘TRAC’ (Trip Requirement and Availability Calculator). Where gaps in risk reduction and or SIF architecture were identified, Technica have suggested remedial actions to achieve compliance with IEC-61511:2016 and CSL’s Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) SIL targets.

Geoff Cole, S,C&I Technical Authority for Centrica Storage Limited, commented that “the strategy document provided by Technica now underpins the CSL policy document and details functional safety management activities including planning, competency, selection, safety requirements specification, design, verification, safety instrumented system (SIS) implementation, and functional safety assessments (FSA) of SIS”. Geoff further reported that “the strategy that they have produced will now apply to all safety lifecycle phases from concept through to decommissioning of a SIS”.

Paul Brimble, S,C&I Engineer for Centrica Storage Limited, added “Technica completed the work to an excellent standard and with impressive professionalism”.

Technical Director of Technica, Andy Hawkins stated “we have a very good relationship with CSL and are very pleased to have been able to support them with their overall implementation and verification of IEC-61511:2016 and the production of their wider policies and strategy.”

Technica have the in-house capability to undertake all aspects of safety engineering using TÜV certified C&I and Software Engineers. We are ideally placed on the Humber Energy Estuary and in the North West of the UK, to support both local and national clients with the safe and successful execution of Electrical, C&I and Mechanical projects. For further information please view our website.