What is IEC TR 61511-4: 2020?
This is the latest publication in the IEC 61511 (Functional Safety – safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector) series. It is a Technical Report which gives explanations for updates to the various clauses in the latest edition of IEC 61511.
According to the IEC website this technical report:
• specifies the rationale behind all clauses and the relationship between them,
• raises awareness for the most common misconceptions and misinterpretations of the clauses and the changes related to them,
• explains the differences between Ed. 1 and Ed. 2 of IEC 61511-1 and the reasons behind the changes,
• presents high level summaries of how to fulfil the requirements of the clauses, and
• explains differences in terminology between IEC 61508-4:2010 and IEC 61511-1 Ed. 2.
If you wish to learn more about this you can visit the IEC webstore and download it (you have to purchase it).
For now we will examine only one of the clauses-Competency of Personnel & Competency Management.
What is Competency Management? Why do we need it?
The IEC 61511 Ed 2 emphasizes that since SIS are updated and modified less frequently than BPCS, the initial competency of personnel who work on Safety Instrumented Systems is likely to degrade over time. Hence it is essential that such personnel take periodic refresher training to update their knowledge. This issue was noticed particularly in people who are employed by various SIS Design service companies as well as those organizations that carry out Hazard and Risk Analysis and help develop the Safety Requirement Specifications (SRS). It was noticed that many personnel lack competency in loss prevention as well as in IEC 61511 requirements. Therefore it recommends a Competency Management System for these people.
If you intend to comply with all the clauses of IEC 61511 Ed 2 then this is mandatory. Is there an easy way to do this? Sure. Read on below.
How to implement such a Competency Management System?
You need not build one yourself.
You can easily implement your system by using the Abhisam Learning Portal at https://prettygoodcourses.com Organizations can use this system to not only train their employees in various Process Safety (for example HAZOP, What-If, LOPA) and Functional Safety areas such as Online Functional Safety Course , Safety Instrumented Systems training (see course below)
Functional Safety Exam
You can also evaluate their competencies by assessing them via online Functional Safety exams.
Questions are drawn from a large database of questions. You can take a sample mock test for free to check it out. When you take the Enterprise version of this system, you get all the above courses, exams and dashboard at one annual cost per learner. Contact us to know more.
Training Records Management and Skill Assessments
Furthermore a record of the employees is automatically generated by the system and can be shown on a Dashboard in real time, to any Functional Safety Assessment team or a Functional Safety Audit Team. Raw data can also be made available on demand. This training records management software is built in to the system
Where can I get more info?
You can check out our Functional Safety Resource page to know more or Contact us.
If you are new to Functional Safety and SIL, then you can download our free functional safety book pdf.
It gives the basic things that you need to know about the subject.
