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The Importance of Functional Safety Assessment and its Application
Page
9
of
12
8. Functional Safety Assessment Process
A structured technique is followed while performing Functional Safety Assessments. One such
method is the
“4P” process
. The process flow is shown in the figure below:
Figure: 3
– FSA 4P Process
Following are the stages of the
“4P” Process
:
v
Plan
v
Perform
v
Publish
v
Persist
The process becomes ‘Completed’, once all the evidence has been verified and assessed for
compliance. A breakdown of the process is identified below.
8.1 Plan
The first requirement for performing an FSA is to plan the whole assessment activity. As a minimum,
this shall include, but is not limited to the following activities:
v
Scope definition
v
Membership of the assessment team
v
Schedule for the FSA
v
Level of independence
v
Competence of personnel
v
Structure of FSA
v
Progression of recommendations
v
Revalidation process
The above activities shall have documented evidence identified for all the activities that have been
undertaken.
PLAN
PERFORM
PUBLISH
COMPLETE
COMPLIANT?
Y
N
PERSIST