MAR Consulting performed a functional safety assessment (FSA) of a modification project in a North Sea platform. The modification consisted of changes to the high integrity (pressure) protection system (HIPS) and emergency shutdown system (ESD), due to re-routing of gas lift and export pipelines. Safety instrumented functions (SIFs) were modified in the mentioned safety instrumented systems (SIS).
The scope of the FSA stage 1 was to validate the initial phases of the project safety lifecycle as per IEC61511. Namely, phase 1 to 3 (from hazard analysis to initial safety requirements specification) and phase 9 to 11 related to soft requirements to reduce the probability of systematic failures.
The outcome was a number of recommendations and findings required to be addressed as the project progresses. These will be re-assessed in the next stage of the project, together with the design and engineering; and commissioning and installation of the SIFs.