Why safety and asset integrity?
As we enter the era of digitalization metals companies are paying more and more attention to their responsibility for protecting their people, property as well as the surrounding environment from harm. At the same time, world organizations and government authorities are sharpening their safety regulations. In the metals industry end-users are demanding closer integration of their safety and control systems, safety functions at various process states, flexibility, scalability and re-usability of their safety components. They need a cost effective way of maintaining production capability, while preserving the integrity of the assets while meeting the legislative requirements. Safety and asset integrity refers to the ability of an asset to perform its required function effectively and efficiently while protecting health, safety and the environment. It is also the means of ensuring that people, systems, processes and resources that deliver integrity are in place, in use and will perform when required over the entire lifecycle of the asset.
Safety and asset integrity in metals practice
The international safety standards such as IEC 61508 Ed2 and IEC 61511 for the process sector, IEC 62061 for machinery and IEC 6180-5-2 for power drives are globally acknowledged as “good practice” in functional safety. SIL (Safety Integrity Level), which is based on IEC/EN 61508, is fundamental to these standards. SIL is a statistical representation of the availability of a required safety instrumented function. There are 4 SIL designations provided in ANSI/ISA S84.01 and IEC 61508. SIL 4 has the highest level of safety integrity and SIL 1 has the lowest. SIL applies to the reliability and performance of safety systems used to protect hazardous activities. Management and technical measures are necessary to achieve the given integrity. Today safety and asset integrity in the metals industry is far from complete. Many metals companies and suppliers are working hard to meet the requirements of SIL. ABB is leading by example by working together with customers to develop and consolidate safety and asset integrity.
Delivering your functional safety lifecycle solutions
SIL is part of larger scheme called functional safety. It is fundamental to the enabling of complex technology used for safety related systems. SIL determination is critical, as an inappropriate SIL determination can affect the safety integrity of the asset protection envelope and may, in some cases, place the asset integrity under threat. Conversely, an overly conservative approach can result in unnecessary capital and operational spending. Properly defined SIL levels allow for significant cost improvements in both greenfield and brownfield operating environments. Asset operational safety integrity levels are maintained while the cost of ownership from ongoing testing and maintenance is optimized. As your partner, we strive to follow each of these phases and map our product and service portfolio to this lifecycle and meet your safety requirements.
Global competency, local presence
Moving into the 21st century, companies in the metals industry have developed truly global capabilities. ABB’s global competency with local presence in all major metals countries is a prerequisite for meeting our customers’ contractual and regulatory requirements, 24/7. Our expertise, certified engineers and safety execution centers, enable us to function as an extension of your information and safety resources pool, particularly where in-house resources are no longer available.