ISA84 Launches New Projects

Summary

The ISA84 committee, Instrumented Systems to Achieve Functional Safety in the Process Industries, has recently approved two major new projects as it prepares for its upcoming semi-annual plenary meetings.

A new working group will develop an ISA technical report providing guidance on how digital information can be applied during the operation and maintenance activities of the functional safety lifecycle, with a focus on the associated benefits. The scope will focus on the operation and maintenance phase but does not exclude the rest of the lifecycle. Lifecycle data that is derived from analysis and engineering is necessary to achieve operation and maintenance functional safety effectiveness. The technical report will identify how digital information can be used to facilitate timely collection, analysis, and visualization of functional safety information.

The committee will also begin the development of a new standard to be titled Functional Safety of Process Safety Controls, Alarms, and Interlocks (PSCAI) for the Process Sector. This standard will set forth requirements for achieving functional safety using PSCAI as protection layers. The requirements for the design and management of alarms identified as part of PSCAI will be provided by ISA18, Instrument Signals and Alarms. The standard will apply to a range of industries within the process sector, including chemicals, oil and gas, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and nonnuclear power generation.

These new undertakings add to several ongoing projects within ISA84 to write and update a series of technical reports to aid users in the understanding and application of the series, ANSI/ISA-61511, Functional Safety–Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector. 

For more information:

• Access ISA standards and technical reports.
• For information on ISA99 and ISA/IEC 62443 standards and activities, visit the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards page. 
• Participation in ISA standards committees is open to all who are interested. For information, contact the standards department. 
• Have an idea for an ISA standard, book, training course, conference topic, or other product or service? Send it to [email protected]. 

_{This feature originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of InTech magazine. You can read it here: https://www.isa.org/intech-home/2022/october-2022}