See Also

Truth #6

You don't have to choose between Safety Instrumented System (SIS) separation and Basic Process Control System (BPCS) integration; you can have BOTH.

BPCS integration allows a plant operator to monitor process conditions and prevent hazards while monitoring the health of the control system. Pressure to reduce costs and to single-source control system hardware should not be justification for combining safety system functionality and basic process regulatory control.

Good engineering standards and practices, government regulations, recommendations by experienced experts, and common sense dictates that these functions be separated.

The industry is leaning toward independent layers of protection to maintain strict physical separation and diversity between process control and safety instrumented functions. Integration is performed at the information, configuration, and HMI levels.

Is your SIS architecture forcing you to choose between separation and integration, or is it able to provide both?

Hydrocarbon Engineering - September 2006 Issue
September Issue

Complete the following form to view or download the Hydrocarbon Engineering article for this truth:

Robin McCrea-Steele

Integrating Control and Safety: "Where to Draw the Line"
by Robin McCrea-Steele, Invensys - Premier Consulting Services (PCS) - Senior Safety Consultant / Director of Business Development.

Robin is a TÜV FSExpert (Certified TÜV Functional Safety Expert I.D. 0101/04), an approved instructor for the TÜV ASI Rheinland Functional Safety Program, and both a Senior Safety Consultant and the Director of Business Development at Premier Consulting Services. Additionally, he is an AIChE Member, an ISA Senior Member and a SP84 committee member working on the Safety Field Bus task force. Specialized in process safety consulting and risk assessments, Robin has presented multiple technical papers at industry symposiums and has been published in various safety-related publications including InTech, Control Solutions International, Hydrocarbon Engineering, and Control Magazine.

"Where to draw the line" focuses on addressing the issues of Integrating Control and Safety:

  • The importance of Independent Layers of Protection
  • Interpreting the Safety Standards
  • Cyber-security Concerns
  • How to provide an integrated solution with advanced functionality and productivity without compromising safety and security?

First Name: 
 Last Name: 
Email Address:  
 Company Name: 
I would like to receive Triconex special offers by email.