Emerson Exchange 365

Activity

Improving Process Safety through Human Factors Analysis

Jim Cahill

Wikipedia defines process safety as focusing on: …preventing fires , explosions and accidental chemical releases in chemical process facilities or other facilities dealing with hazardous materials such as refineries , and oil and gas ( onshore and offshore ) production installations. In a Valve magazine article, Human Factors Can Cause a Disaster—or Prevent One , Emerson’s Julian Annison and Travis Hesketh highlight…
- 26 Apr 2017
Focus on the Process in Your Safety Requirements Specification

Jim Cahill

A safety requirement specification (SRS) for a safety instrumented system (SIS), as part of the IEC 61511 global safety standard [ from the exida blog ]: …incorporates all the analysis done during the Risk Assessment, HAZOP [ hazard and operability study ]/PHA [ process hazard analysis ] and LOPA [ layer of protection analysis ] reviews. Emerson’s Russell Cockman presented at an Institute of Measurement and…
- 17 Mar 2017
Embracing Safety Requirements Specifications

Jim Cahill

The Institute of Measurement and Control is hosting the Functional Safety 2016 conference this week in London. This conference seeks to engage practitioners from a wide variety of industrial sectors who have responsibilities in any functional safety lifecycle phase to share views and best practices. Emerson’s Russell Cockman is presenting Why embrace the concept of the Safety Requirements Specification? Here is the…
- 7 Nov 2016
Improve Safety Proof Test Capabilities with Intelligent Instrumentation

Jim Cahill

At the Emerson Exchange conference in Austin, Emerson’s Afton Coleman , Erik Mathiason and Tonya Wyatt presented, Improve Safety Proof Test Capabilities with Intelligent Instrumentation. Their abstract: Safety Instrumented Systems are designed to be the most critical line of defense against a catastrophic failure. Ensuring that each component of the system is working properly is required, often leading to downtime…
- 25 Oct 2016
Safety Logic Solver Validation on Logic Updates

Jim Cahill

The global safety standard IEC 61511 Functional safety – Safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector describes the validation process. The objective of the requirements of this clause is to validate, through inspection and testing, that the installed and commissioned safety instrumented system and its associated safety instrumented functions achieve the requirements as stated in the safety requirement…
- 18 Oct 2016
Testing Valves in Safety Instrumented Functions

Jim Cahill

Safety instrumented systems are a critical part of process manufacturers and producers overall process safety management in protecting personnel, environment, equipment, property, reputation and image. In an Offshore Engineer article, Safety Instrumented Function loop ‘final element’ problems and solutions , Emerson’s Riyaz Ali describes the importance and ways to test the final control elements in these safety loops…
- 26 Aug 2016
Separate versus Integral Final Element Accessories Questions

Jim Cahill

A post from a few years ago, Separate Versus Integral Final Element Accessories in Safety Applications , continues to generate some good questions. I thought I’d make these questions and associated answers more visible in today’s post. Here’s the first question: I understood the whole description, But while calculating PFDavg, We will have to add the Failure rate of valve assembly (Valve+Actuator) which brings down…
- 10 Dec 2015
When is a Safety Integrity Level Rating of a Valve Required?

Jim Cahill

Control valves play a large role in process control. Emerson’s Riyaz Ali shared with me that he is often asked about their use in safety instrumented functions (also known as safety loops). When asked recently, he shared an ISA Safety Division newsletter from the fall of 2007. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the newsletter in my Google searches. His article in this newsletter, When is a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Rating…
- 3 Nov 2015
SIS CHARMS in DCS and SIS Integrated Solution in DCS Modernization Project

Jim Cahill

Emerson’s MC Chow and Janka O’Brien teamed up with an SIS technical expert from a major refiner to tell a story of a control system and SIS modernization project. Their abstract: This session is to discuss DCS replacement projects on two near identical FCC units. One was done in the traditional non-integrated approach for a DCS and SIS, the other was done using an integrated approach with DeltaV and DeltaV SIS CHARMS…
- 15 Oct 2015
Increase Safety and Efficiency with New Proof Test Method

Jim Cahill

Emerson’s Hampus Regnér and Christoffer Widahl presented Increase Safety and Efficiency With New Proof Test Method at the Denver Emerson Exchange conference. Here is their presentation abstract: A functional proof test of a high level alarm (HLA) is required as a key objective of operational safety. Testing and qualification of the HLA device is a critical aspect, which has previously not been well addressed. In this…
- 15 Oct 2015
Verification in the IEC 61511 Safety Lifecycle

Jim Cahill

I received a great question about the application of the IEC 61511 safety lifecycle . The person noted that a question was raised after the safety integrity level (SIL) study and safety requirements specification (SRS) had been performed. The question is about the verification of these and who would need to perform them. I turned to Emerson’s Russell Cockman on the SIS [safety instrumented system] Functional Safety…
- 19 Aug 2015
Control Valve Suitability in Safety Applications

Jim Cahill

Sometimes an email exchange turns up something developed years ago that still has great value. So is this case with an article I received as an attachment on final control elements and their suitability in safety instrumented functions (SIFs) , a.k.a. safety loops. The article, When SIL suitability is required for final control elements , was written by Emerson’s Riyaz Ali back in 2011 for EngineerIT magazine. The…
- 8 Apr 2015
Managing the Safety Lifecycle

Jim Cahill

The post Managing the Safety Lifecycle appeared first on the Emerson Process Experts blog. Process safety revolves around managing the risks of your production process throughout the life of your plant, mill or production facility. The international safety standard, IEC 61511 (Functional safety – Safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector) : …sets out practices in the engineering of systems that…
- 18 Mar 2015
Digital Protocol Diagnostics and Risk Analysis

Jim Cahill

In an earlier post, Wired Versus Wireless Risk Analysis for Process Instrumentation Measurements , we highlighted the fault tree methodology for performing risk analysis on wired and wireless instrumentation. Emerson’s Jonas Berge added a thoughtful comment which I wanted to bring out and share in this post. Jonas Berge Director, Applied Technology I attended their workshop. It was great. At 9:30 in the video Ed…
- 5 Nov 2014
Wired Versus Wireless Risk Analysis for Process Instrumentation Measurements

Jim Cahill

How does wireless communications compare against wired communications for process instrumentation? That was the subject of an Emerson Exchange presentation by Kenexis’ Ed Marszal and Emerson’s Gary Hawkins . Their presentation, Risk analysis of wired versus wireless transmission of process measurements was recently narrated by Ed as an encore presentation and uploaded to YouTube. In this 30:31 video, Emerson Exchange…
- 27 Oct 2014
Managing the Lifecycle of Safety Instrumented Systems

Jim Cahill

A tremendously experienced panel in functional safety included Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Senior Project Manager, Josef Neumann TÜV NORD Systems, Dr. William Goble Principle Partner, Exida, Russell Cockman Consultant SIS, Emerson, Nicolas Menet , Business Development Manager for Emerson’s Fisher Valves family of products, and Aart Pruysen Director Approvals, Emerson. The experts panel’s abstract: Maintaining Safety Integrity is…
- 3 Apr 2014
Managing the Lifecycle of Safety Instrumented Systems

Jim Cahill

A tremendously experienced panel in functional safety included Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Senior Project Manager, Josef Neumann TÜV NORD Systems, Dr. William Goble Principle Partner, Exida, Russell Cockman Consultant SIS, Emerson, Nicolas Menet, Business Development...
- 3 Apr 2014
High-Integrity Pressure Protection System Solution

Jim Cahill

Emerson’s Carsten Thoegersen and Emanuele Rivolta shares his expertise on high-integrity pressure protection systems in process safety applications. Their abstract: HIPPS (High-Integrity Pressure Protection System) is a part of the Safety Instrumented...
- 2 Apr 2014
Safety Valve Positioners and Common Cause Failure Questions

Jim Cahill

If you work with pumps in your facility, you may be familiar with the Empowering Pumps site, a wealth of information to help you with these important assets in your plant. Founder Charli K. Matthews has launched something similar for valves, Empowering Valves . I had the opportunity to contribute a guest post, Common Cause Failures in Safety Valve Positioners? It was based on a question I recently received. The question…
- 27 Feb 2014
Safety Valve Positioners and Common Cause Failure Questions

Jim Cahill

If you work with pumps in your facility, you may be familiar with the Empowering Pumps site, a wealth of information to help you with these important assets in your plant. Founder Charli K. Matthews has launched something similar for valves, Empowering...
- 27 Feb 2014
Faster Emergency Shutoff Valve for Propane Railcars

Jim Cahill

Once again, it’s Chris Womack back with a guest post related to terminals. Just a quick mention here of the fast, new, but still memorably named Fisher N863 Snappy Joe Emergency Shutoff Railcar Valve ( pdf ). You see, for the past three decades or so, there’s only been one such valve designed especially for loading and unloading propane from railcars — Emerson’s Fisher Snappy Joe N562. So why the new one? It’s about…
- 27 Jan 2014
Faster Emergency Shutoff Valve for Propane Railcars

Jim Cahill

Once again, it’s Chris Womack back with a guest post related to terminals. Just a quick mention here of the fast, new, but still memorably named Fisher N863 Snappy Joe Emergency Shutoff Railcar Valve (pdf). You see, for the past three decades or so, there...
- 27 Jan 2014
Flame Detection and Minimizing False Alarms

Jim Cahill

Process manufacturers with hazardous areas in their process are responsible for the safety of the process through the IEC 61511 safety lifecycle—from initial design through decommissioning. Flame monitoring is often an important component in risk mitigation...
- 3 Dec 2013
Functional Safety and Tank Overfill Prevention

Jim Cahill

As global oil and gas production continues to fan out to new areas, the need for storage tanks and terminal facilities as part of the distribution processes increases. Making sure those tanks are not overfilled is paramount for safety, environmental protection...
- 18 Nov 2013
10 Ways to Improve Functional Safety

Jim Cahill

ISA Portugal recently hosted a conference on functional safety. Emerson’s Russell Cockman, whom you may recall from earlier safety-related posts, presented 10 ways to improve functional safety without worrying where to put the decimal point in the calculation...
- 13 Nov 2013