Industry puts substantial effort into ensuring that plants are designed and built to run safely. By their very nature, however, the safety instrumented systems (SIS) that often carry a lion's share of the plant's risk reduction measures are seldom called into action. How then can operating companies be sure that operations continue to be as safe as they were 20 years ago when the plant was built?
Indeed, the passage of time and poor visibility can conspire to erode the ability of a plant's established safety instrumented functions (SIFs) to provide adequate risk reduction, according to Nasir Mundh, global director, safety services, Schneider Electric. Mundh, together with colleague Farshad Hendi, safety services practice leader, discussed how Schneider Electric is helping its customers to better understand and track the leading indicators that point to increased risk—before an incident or injury occurs.
Protecting electrical controls and equipment within food and beverage plants presents unique challenges due to the sanitation requirements of the hygienic environment.
