Functional safety of safety-related systems: the influence of IEC 1508 and developments in conformity assessment schemes on business drivers

Industry faces many challenges and unremitting pressures within increasingly competitive markets. There are increasing regulatory demands to address risks to safety and the environment in a world where public concern for safety is rising. A consistent approach to the use of new technology and standards is essential to avoid the potential confusion of different approaches to safety being followed by different application sectors. Programmable electronics is a technology that, if properly used in the implementation of safety-related systems supported by internationally acceptable standards with supporting conformity assessment schemes, offers significant benefits to industry in meeting its challenges, whilst maintaining and improving safety. This paper presents a range of current technical issues and business drivers within manufacturing industry, and discusses the relevance and importance of the emerging international standard IEC 1508 in assisting industry in satisfying their evolving business drivers and continuous organisational restructuring. A UK Government-sponsored research project called FRESCO (FRamework for the Evaluation of Safety-Critical Objects) has developed a conformity assessment scheme from process industry requirements based on IEC 1508. This paper outlines the organisational framework and assessment methodology developed by the FRESCO project.