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Bureau Veritas Services

SIL CERTIFICATION FOR FUNCTIONAL

SAFETY SYSTEMS REGARDING IEC 61508
Certifying SIL component safety
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
As functional safety demands continue to increase, safety instrument system designers for
electrical/electronic and programmable electronics (E/E/PE) must integrate safety certified products
(sensors, logic units and actuators) into their systems and require manufacturers to provide certificates
/ assessments in regard to IEC 61508* / 61511**.
Designers now require their suppliers to follow a certification process for safety instrumented functions
and their components.
Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Certification is a comprehensive quality guarantee from manufacturers.

SOLUTION
Bureau Veritas assesses and certifies according to the IEC 61508 standard (SIL Certification), security
systems as well as for sensing devices and actuators.
We cover the following topics in order to guarantee an exhaustive and coherent assessment of
components (generic or specific to particular safety loops):
Project documentation assessment
Development and product design assessment
RELATED SERVICES
Business process assessment
Relevance of feedback (lessons learned) assessment
SIL Capable Certification
Analysis and studies of Operational Safety assessment
Complex System Modeling and
- Assessment of Failure Modes, Effects and
Calculations PFD / PFH
Assistance and support regarding safety
Diagnostics Analysis (FMEDA) analysis
approach set-up
- Assessment of Probability of dangerous Failure on
Demand (PFD) and Probability of dangerous Failure
per Hour (PFH) calculations
Assessment of verification and validation activities

WHY CHOOSE BUREAU VERITAS

N133-A86-11/2012

Recognition - Bureau Veritas Certification is accredited by COFRAC (Certificate No. 5-0051 rev 27) for
the certification of functional safety systems in regard to the IEC 61508 standard.
Experience and Technical Expertise - Bureau Veritas has more than 20 years of experience in
Operational Safety and has expertise in systems, hardware and software.
Our specialists regularly participate in numerous working groups focused on RAMS (Reliability,
Availability, Maintainability and Safety).

* Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems

** Functional safety - Safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector based on IEC 61508 and focuses on Safety
Instrumented Systems (SIS).

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OUR APPROACH
Key steps to SIL Certification are:
The assessment always begins with an audit/diagnostic regarding the IEC 61508.
Bureau Veritas then proceeds to assess documentation and completes findings reports for each
document linked to the safety of the component or function.
Complementary audits are carried out after each document assessment.
The SIL certificate is issued after all these steps have been completed*.

Audit & Diagnostic

Documentation Assessment

Delivery of Findings Reports

Issuance of SIL Certificate

FAQ
How long does it take to obtain an SIL Certificate?
The time delay depends on the complexity of the component or system and the maturity of the
company regarding safety related development (around 3 months).
What does the Safety Integrity Level mean?
The Safety Integrity Level (SIL) is a qualitative measure of the safety and a quantitative data of the
safety level. It is not only the Probability of Failure.

*All certifications are delivered by Bureau Veritas Certification.

CONTACT

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For details about this service, please contact

please visit:
www.bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas
By phone: +33 (0)1 55 24 77 11
By e-mail: PCAmail@bureauveritas.com