Functional Safety Course

Lesson 1 • Overview of Functional Safety Standards

Surveys the landscape of sector-specific functional safety standards and their shared structure. Students understand how standards relate to each other.

Lesson 2 • Key Terminology and Definitions

Builds a precise vocabulary used throughout the course. Accurate terminology prevents misinterpretation during safety analysis and documentation.

Lesson 3 • Hazard and Risk Fundamentals

Introduces hazard identification and risk as a product of severity and probability. Connects risk concepts to the need for safety measures.

Lesson 4 • Roles and Responsibilities in Safety Projects

Identifies the organisational roles required by functional safety frameworks. Clarifies accountability structures that underpin compliant safety lifecycles.

Lesson 1 • Concept and Scope Definition Phase

Covers how to define the equipment under control and its operational context. Accurate scope definition prevents gaps in later hazard analysis.

Lesson 2 • Safety Requirements Specification

Teaches how to translate risk assessment outputs into measurable safety requirements. Well-formed requirements are the foundation of verifiable design.

Lesson 3 • Hazard and Risk Assessment Phase

Details the structured process for identifying hazards and estimating risk. Outputs directly drive safety integrity level determination.

Lesson 4 • Safety Lifecycle Concept and Purpose

Explains why a structured lifecycle is mandated and what it achieves. Frames all subsequent technical activities within a managed process.

Lesson 1 • Fault Tree Analysis

Introduces top-down deductive analysis using fault trees to model failure combinations. Students can construct and evaluate a fault tree for a safety function.

Lesson 2 • HAZOP Study Methodology

Provides a detailed walkthrough of the hazard and operability study process. Students can facilitate and document a HAZOP for a process system.

Lesson 3 • Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Teaches FMEA as a bottom-up technique for identifying component-level failure effects. Connects FMEA outputs to safety requirement refinement.

Lesson 4 • Event Tree and Bow-Tie Analysis

Covers consequence modelling with event trees and integrated bow-tie diagrams. Demonstrates how these tools visualise barrier effectiveness.

Lesson 1 • SIL Verification Principles

Introduces the concept of verifying that a designed system achieves its SIL target. Distinguishes SIL determination from SIL verification.

Lesson 2 • SIL Determination Methods

Compares risk graph, risk matrix, and LOPA methods for assigning SIL targets. Students can apply each method and understand their relative conservatism.

Lesson 3 • SIL Concept and Risk Reduction

Explains SIL as a discrete measure of required risk reduction for a safety function. Anchors SIL to the tolerable risk concept established earlier.

Lesson 4 • Layer of Protection Analysis in Depth

Provides a thorough treatment of LOPA as the most widely used SIL determination tool. Students can conduct a complete LOPA scenario analysis.

Lesson 1 • SIS Architecture and Components

Describes the sensor, logic solver, and final element subsystems of an SIS. Establishes the component framework for reliability and architecture analysis.

Lesson 2 • Safe Failure Fraction and Architectural Constraints

Explains SFF calculation and how architectural constraints limit achievable SIL. Connects hardware classification to design decisions.

Lesson 3 • SIL Verification Calculations

Teaches quantitative PFD and PFH calculations for SIS subsystems and systems. Students can verify that a designed SIS meets its SIL target numerically.

Lesson 4 • Redundancy and Voting Architectures

Covers redundant configurations and voting logic used to achieve hardware fault tolerance. Students can select architectures appropriate to a given SIL.

Lesson 1 • Factory and Site Acceptance Testing

Details FAT and SAT procedures for SIS hardware and integrated systems. Ensures that installed systems perform their safety functions under real conditions.

Lesson 2 • Functional Safety Assessment

Explains the independent functional safety assessment process and its lifecycle triggers. Students understand what assessors examine and how to prepare evidence.

Lesson 3 • Software Verification and Testing

Addresses verification of safety-related software including application and embedded code. Introduces software testing strategies required by functional safety standards.

Lesson 4 • Design Verification Techniques

Covers reviews, inspections, and analysis methods used to verify design outputs. Connects each technique to specific lifecycle phase outputs.

Lesson 1 • Proof Testing Programmes

Covers the design and execution of proof tests that reveal dangerous undetected failures. Links test interval and coverage to PFD calculations from earlier chapters.

Lesson 2 • Periodic Safety Reviews

Covers the periodic review of safety systems to confirm continued fitness for purpose. Connects review findings to lifecycle updates and corrective actions.

Lesson 3 • Preventive and Corrective Maintenance

Addresses scheduled maintenance and repair activities that sustain SIS reliability. Establishes controls to prevent maintenance-induced failures.

Lesson 4 • Management of Change Process

Provides a structured approach to evaluating and approving changes to safety systems. Prevents uncontrolled modifications that degrade safety integrity.

Lesson 1 • Safety Case Development

Teaches the structured argument-based approach to demonstrating overall safety. Students can construct a safety case using the goal structuring notation.

Lesson 2 • Functional Safety for Autonomous Systems

Addresses functional safety challenges specific to autonomous and AI-enabled systems. Introduces emerging frameworks for managing non-deterministic behaviour.

Lesson 3 • Functional Safety Metrics and KPIs

Introduces quantitative and qualitative metrics for monitoring functional safety performance. Enables data-driven management of safety system health across a facility.

Lesson 4 • Safety of Complex and Programmable Systems

Examines unique challenges posed by complex programmable electronic systems in safety roles. Covers systematic failure avoidance measures for software-intensive systems.