Functional Safety
As systems rely more and more on sophisticated hardware and software, safety is increasingly dependent on the relationship between products and their responses to inputs. Functional safety depends on equipment or a system operating correctly in response to its inputs. Neither overall product safety nor functional safety can be determined without carefully evaluating a product's systems as a whole and assessing the environment with which they interact.
A functional safety evaluation includes:
- Software
- Hardware
- EMC
- Safety lifecycle management processes
Why evaluate your product for functional safety?
A functional safety assessment can determine that your products meet standards and performance requirements created to protect against potential injury or death. There are many reasons to seek functional safety certification including:
- Customer requirements - Your own customers may demand a functional safety evaluation before purchasing equipment
- Market acceptance - Marketing products as having a functional safety certification differentiates your products and strengthens your product's competitiveness in the marketplace
- Legislative requirements - Some European Directives require a functional safety evaluation
- Regulations - Some regulatory bodies such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) require or encourage functional safety evaluation
- Trade unions - Some unions require or encourage use of functional safety certified products in the workplace
Functional safety standards
UL can evaluate safety-related products to a variety of standards, including but not limited to:
- IEC 61508 - Functional safety of products, components and systems. Evaluation covers electrical/electronic/ programmable electronic (E/E/PE) safety-related systems and assessment of the proper safety integrity levels (SILs) of your product or system
- IEC 62061 - Safety of machinery and functional safety of safety-related electrical, electronic and programmable electronic control systems
- IEC 61496 - Evaluation of safety-related electrosensitive protective equipment
- ISO 13849 - Safety of machinery and safety-related parts of control systems
- UL 1998 - Assessment of software safety and evaluation of computer/ software-controlled products
- UL 991 - Assessment of controls that employ solid-state devices and are intended for specified safety-related protective functions
Products UL evaluates for functional safety
Safety-related products, such as light curtains or safety-programmable controllers, carry greater implications for human safety and equipment damage than products typically used in an industrial environment. A functional safety assessment help establish that standards and performance requirements designated to protect against potential injury or death are met. Common products that receive functional safety evaluations include:
- Burner management systems
- Combustion controls
- Electrosensitive equipment such as laser scanners, light curtains and machine vision equipment
- Elevator components
- Gas detection equipment
- Motor drives
- Process control equipment
- Programmable components
- Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and programmable automation controllers (PACs)
- Robotics and accessories
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