Managing Competency
Health and Safety
Executive
Managing competence for safety-related systems
Part 1: Key guidance
© Crow n copyright 2007
This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive, the Inst itution of
Engineering Technology and t he B rit ish Computer Society. Following t he guidance is not compulsory and you are f ree t o take other act ion. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with t he law in Great Britain where t his is regulated by t he H ealt h and Safety Execut ive (HSE) . H SE inspect ors seek to secure
1
compliance with the law and may ref er t o t his guidance as illustrating good pract ice.
Introduction
1
This guidance on competence applies to ev eryone, in all industry sectors, whose decisions and w ork with safety-related systems can affect health and safety. The aim is for all people within scope to be suitably qualified and experienced for their own work ac tivities , roles and responsibilities .
2
A safety-related system according to this guidance is a system whose correct operation is necessary for ensuring or maintaining safety . It uses elec trical, electronic, and/or programmable electronic technologies and may include software and people. In general, safety-related systems can be classified as protec tion s ystems or control systems.
3
Example safety-related systems include a trip-switch that disconnects power from a press on close approach to moving par ts, traffic lights , vehicle engine management, boiler management, medical devices, fire management in an intelligent building, gas detection on an industrial chemical plant, emergency shutdown on an offshore gas platform, remote operation of a network-enabled process plant, access protection for nuclear reprocessing, fly-by-wire operation of aircraft flight control surfaces and any infor mation system where erroneous results can significantly affec t safety.
4 New technologies, par ticular ly programmable electronics,
Executive
Managing competence for safety-related systems
Part 1: Key guidance
© Crow n copyright 2007
This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive, the Inst itution of
Engineering Technology and t he B rit ish Computer Society. Following t he guidance is not compulsory and you are f ree t o take other act ion. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with t he law in Great Britain where t his is regulated by t he H ealt h and Safety Execut ive (HSE) . H SE inspect ors seek to secure
1
compliance with the law and may ref er t o t his guidance as illustrating good pract ice.
Introduction
1
This guidance on competence applies to ev eryone, in all industry sectors, whose decisions and w ork with safety-related systems can affect health and safety. The aim is for all people within scope to be suitably qualified and experienced for their own work ac tivities , roles and responsibilities .
2
A safety-related system according to this guidance is a system whose correct operation is necessary for ensuring or maintaining safety . It uses elec trical, electronic, and/or programmable electronic technologies and may include software and people. In general, safety-related systems can be classified as protec tion s ystems or control systems.
3
Example safety-related systems include a trip-switch that disconnects power from a press on close approach to moving par ts, traffic lights , vehicle engine management, boiler management, medical devices, fire management in an intelligent building, gas detection on an industrial chemical plant, emergency shutdown on an offshore gas platform, remote operation of a network-enabled process plant, access protection for nuclear reprocessing, fly-by-wire operation of aircraft flight control surfaces and any infor mation system where erroneous results can significantly affec t safety.
4 New technologies, par ticular ly programmable electronics,
References: HSE/IET/BC S, 2006 4 Safety-related systems: Guidance for engineers (Issue 2, 2002) The Hazards Forum, ISBN 0 9525 103 0 8