Functional Safety Training Course for Instrument Technicians

A 2-day training course to provide Technicians with underpinning knowledge of Functional Safety and SIL specifically in relation to the tasks they are responsible for. The course introduces the key concepts of functional safety and functional safety management in accordance with IEC 61511 and goes on to develop that understanding through a series of classroom discussions, activities, videos and exercises. The key learning outcomes are to help Technicians understand their role in the FS lifecycle - to ensure that safety instrumented systems are operated and maintained in a way that protects their integrity. This learning is confirmed through a 1.5-hour exam on the afternoon of the second day.

Course Content

Introduction to functional safety
- what is functional safety
- why is it relevant
- where did it come from
- how does it fit with other requirements
- who does it apply to
Aspects of functional safety
- types of failure
- safety integrity levels and what they mean
- functional safety management and lifecycle
- hazard and risk analysis
- safety requirement specification
- design installation and commissioning
- operate maintain repair
Proof testing
- what is a proof test
- ideal proof testing
- lessons from a real world review
- issues for practical proof testing
- proof test procedures and coverage
- partial proof testing
- proof test worked examples
Legal requirements
- introduction
- competence
- responsibilities
- managing failures
- modifications
- auditing and monitoring performance
Attitudes and behaviour

Who should attend

This training is targeted at anyone with a hands-on role with safety instrumented systems, at any stage in the safety lifecycle.

In particular: Instrument Technicians, Commissioning Engineers, System Integrator Technicians, Calibrations Staff, Maintenance Engineers and anyone involved in proof testing.

Pre-qualification

In order to obtain the full certificate. All candidates must have:

A prior technical qualification in process control and instrumentation/electronics e.g. NVQ3, HNC/HND or degree in the relevant engineering sector
A minimum of four years of relevant industry experience with at least one years experience as a practitioner in the field

If candidates do not fulfil all of these requirements they can still attend the course and the certificate can be upgraded when the criteria is met.

After this training course you will

Have an appreciation of functional safety, the functional safety lifecycle and its relevance in your role
Understand the importance of “compliance” and “working safely” in the “operate, maintain & repair” stages of the FS lifecycle
Understand why FS should be considered in the modification process