Hot Spot BVAA SILS TEG- Call for New Members

What is it?

The BVAA SILS TEG last met in 2020 to discuss the early draft of a new EN standard on functional safety of safety-related automated industrial valves. Due to the time period since the SILS TEG last met, this Hot Spot is being circulated to all Valve and Actuator Group members as an invitation to join the BVAA SILS TEG and contribute to the development of this standard.

CEN TC69 WG1 AH3 has continued to develop the standard since 2020 and the attached document is now in the process of being published as an EN working draft for ballot. As discussed at the recent BVAA Valve Group meeting, advanced circulation of this 75 page document will allow interested members to start to prepare their comments in advance of a meeting of the BVAA SILS TEG. This TEG meeting will be called in the next few weeks following formal circulation of the draft finalise comments to BSI.

If you are not a current member of the SILS TEG and would like to join please advise the BVAA secretariat before 28/10/22.

Why is it Important?

This draft standard is for manufacturers of valves and actuators that are integral parts of automated safety instrumented systems. It defines a consistent approach to evaluating the functional safety of the system components with the evaluation being conducted according to the principles defined in EN 61508 and derived application standards such as EN 61511.

No equivalent standard for the evaluation of mechanical components currently exists in the vital, continually developing, area of safety instrumented systems. The BVAA SILS TEG is chaired by Paul Reeve who is a member of the CEN TC69 WG1 AH3 committee developing the standard. Membership of the BVAA SILS TEG presents an opportunity to contribute to and influence the development of this important new standard.

Continuous Improvement - Did we miss anything?

Hot Spots are intended to alert members and provide a brief overview of new standards, activities or procedures that are being introduced in the industry. If there is key information missing that would be helpful, please let us know so that we can improve our future service.

Please Note: This Hotspot is for information purposes, and we invite comments from BVAA members only. Please also note that at time of publication ballots may be closed. For more information, please contact the Secretariat.

BVAA Members: Did you know we have a hotspot tab on the BVAA website? Head over to www.bvaa.org.uk/login-here.asp and log into the member only area. You then need to select ‘Hotspots’ for the latest. For information on how to access the member only area of the website please contact jane@bvaa.org.uk. 

Published: 14th October 2022