Just like CE Compliance, the scope statement is the key. OEM's should state carefully where and how one does these things:the best use of language is not to say "it's SAFE" (unless you're a paid umpire). I counsel my customers to say that products have been tested to be in compliance with the proper component (safety) standard(s). Even Intertek and UL stay far away from the word "safe." "Safety" testing is done by product standard. UL 508 and the like have sections to deal with control systems. The best I've seen was actually in NFPA 79. Woodward's nice generation control PLCs are product certified to UL 508. I consider this primary safety (against, fire, shock, etc.), and all please note that safety of control systems has been termed "Functional Safety." Leave the software out of it for now. How one establishes safety of control systems (which run the software), is a certification to IEC 61508.61508 calls the control systems (and potentially, sensors): Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems (E/E/PE, or E/E/PES). Woodward generation control systems (like Mironet+) cite SIL-3 certification for one example. UL 1998 is still around, but in five years of searching, I've not found any products certified to it. There are some good presentations, UL and MTL Instruments are the best I've seen so far. MTL's starts simple with terms like ALARP “As Little As Realistically Practicable” and concepts and goes into some level of detail for calculating MTBF, "dangerous failure rates" and PFD averages. MTL certifies systems and sensors to 61508, apparently. Don't let the discussions of risk assessment/analysis make you crazy, that's just what they want! UL's presentation is more friendly, far reaching and less detailed. Slide # 19 lists all the relevant standards from IEC, ISO, etc. Give it whirl, and watch your terminology! "Colorado" Brian GregoryPower Plant Electrical Engineer,Leidos, Inc. 720-450-4933
---------- Original Message ---------- From: "Brian O'Connell" <oconne...@tamuracorp.com> To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: Re: [PSES] SAFETTY FEATURES controlled by ....SOFTWARE Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2016 16:37:02 +0000 Please beat a rapid and clear path to the local expert at your preferred conformity assessment body. In the meantime, read UL1998, IEC61508, MISRA, and perhaps UL991 for FIT. And there is another IEC standard for power systems SIL that cannot remember. As for my employer's stuff - my 'tactic' has been to prove that the code is NOT a safety-critical component, rather than do a certification that plays probabilistic games with the "likelihood of occurrence". Brian From: Bolintineanu, Constantin [mailto:cbolintine...@tycoint.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2016 7:33 AM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: [PSES] SAFETTY FEATURES controlled by ....SOFTWARE Dear Colleagues, I would like to kindly ask those who have an extensive experience regarding the above subject, to share their opinion about the following aspect: Having a circuit which is charging a battery, and having it controlled and protected �by SOFTWARE ONLY from the point of view of CHARGING , DISCHARGING, OVERCHARGING, 1. How do you think that SINGLE FAULT CONDITIONS shall be applied? (without SOFTWARE working at all? Or by providing a fault on the component where the SOFTWARE is stored? OR BOTH 2. Which conditions do you think that shall be imposed to the software and/or to the memory in which it is stored? Any other suggestions/observations/comments are more than welcome. Sincerely, Constantin Bolintineanu P.Eng. ________________________________________ This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <sdoug...@ieee.org> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
