Expertise
March has been trusted by key UK industries for decades. We understand the challenges that business faces in terms of productivity, competition, cost control, safety, security and compliance.
March undertook the delivery of a Safety Instrumented Systems compliant to IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 for a global chemicals company.
History
As part of a major process refurbishment, March was engaged for the the delivery of a control solution including BPCS (Basic Process Control System) and Safety Instrumented System for a process plant used to manufacture Bicarbonate Soda to pharmaceutical grade.
Solution
The fast-track nature of the project guided March’s technology selection: a programmable safety instrumented system (Rockwell Guardlogix) that allowed the team to design and build the electrical infrastructure whilst the process design was still in progress. A more conventional system design using hardwired safety would have inherited longer development time, requiring as a pre-requisite the completion of the process design and associated SIF identifications.
The system implemented included:
- Rockwell GuardLogix and distributed Safety Point I/O for the SIS
- Rockwell Dual Redundant ControlLogix and distributed Flex I/O for the BPCS
- Industrial Network Connectivity and VLANS using Rockwell Stratix Switches and Ring topology
- Redundant Rockwell Factorytalk View SCADA
Infrastructure and clients IEC 61511 Life cycle was followed with Peak delivering the following scope:
- Participation to Hazard and Risk Assessment
- Identification of Safety Instrumented Functions
- Design and Assembly of Hardware Architecture
- Design and development of Safety Logic
- Production of Safety Requirement Specifications
- Testing and Validation
- Site Installation and verification
- Proof Testing procedures
Over 30 SIFs were identified and targeted to the relevant SIL level. The safety logic solver interfaces with the BPCS to provide a detailed status of the SIS integrity.
Results
A successful project delivered under challenging time constraints through March’s ability to work as a combined team with the customer.
The safety system is implemented under the 61511 SIS Safety Lifecycle and Functional Safety Assessment Phases and provides the required level of protection.
The selection of a programmable safety system introduced a level of flexibility between the various project disciplines as changes and introduction to new SIFs became possible as the process design evolved.
The outcome contributed to safeguarding the employment of a local team.