910 / 1143
Today
If there is a large semi-circular indicator 3 meters in diameter fixed above the main entrance to the
factory and the dial is divided into slices, a third red, a third amber and a third green. The dial is an
indication of the process related safety of the plant on any particular day. On this day the indicator is
firmly in the red! Would you go to work, knowing the plant is unsafe?
We could ask, ‘well what does that mean’, ‘how unsafe’, ‘toxic gas unsafe’, ‘explosion’ unsafe? ‘Is it
a little bit unsafe or a lot unsafe’, in other words ‘am I in imminent danger of losing my life? These
are all great questions, questions we never ask because someone’s doing something, right? The dial
isn’t even there and no, we do not know how safe we are on any particular day and we walk into work
blindly trusting to luck that the next major hazardous incident is somewhere else
What is Functional Safety Management? What is actually involved, what will it achieve and how does
it help?
The COMAH interpretation is as follows:
Functional Safety is concerned with the management, design, installation, operation and maintenance
of instrumented process safety systems that reduce the risk of a major accident.
Such systems include: process control systems, safety instrumented systems, alarm systems.
COMAH (with regard to EC&I systems at COMAH establishments) goes on to say:
Evidence gathered during inspection should be used to derive enforcement decisions in accordance
with the CA Enforcement Management Model. EC&I sources of evidence could include:
risk assessment studies;
specifications;
design documents;
calculations;
equipment certificates and manuals;
maintenance procedures;
maintenance records;
test and inspection records;
competence records;
compliance against safety management system procedures;
field observations, including information provided verbally by the Company.