A big thank you to Iain Keetley-Smith from SICK Sensor Intelligence for providing the SICK : Functional Safety Training course - with SISTEMA Use.

The training provided a fantastic opportunity to refresh and ensure that our team is up to date with control system safety, EN13849, ensuring that all our systems are compliant with the latest safety levels.

EN13849 provides safety requirements and guidance on the principles for the design and integration of safety-related parts of control systems, including the design of software, specifying characteristics that include the performance level required for carrying out safety functions. EN13849 applies to both high demand and continuous mode, regardless of the type of technology and energy used including electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, for all kinds of machinery.

All machines will have a risk assessment done, identifying risks which need controlling using the control system. Safety function such as two-hand control system, light curtain, to name but a few, are put in place and assigned a safety requirement specification. A performance level is then assigned to each safety function before moving onto the safety requirement specification.

You can find out more about how to comply with EN13849 by reading the full EN13849 document.