TRUTH # 6
You don't have to choose between
Safety Instrumented System (SIS) separation and Basic Process Control System (BPCS) integration; you can have BOTH

BPCS INTEGRATION allows a plant operator to monitor process conditions and prevent hazards while monitoring the health of the control system. Pressure to reduce costs and to single-source control system hardware should not be justification for combining safety system functionality and basic process regulatory control.

Good engineering standards and practices, government regulations, recommendations by experienced experts, and common sense dictates that these functions be separated.

The industry is leaning toward independent layers of protection to maintain strict physical separation and diversity between process control and safety instrumented functions. Integration is performed at the information, configuration, and HMI levels.

Is your SIS architecture forcing you to choose between separation and integration, or is it able to provide both?

To read Hydrocarbon Engineering Magazine’s September 2006 article titled, “Where to draw the Line – The problem of integrating control and safety effectively,” go to www.triconex.com/truth6.