Defenses against mode violation

Hazard prevention

  It is possible and quite easy to define operational rules about the desired vs. forbidden relationships between the primary operational mode and those of sub-systems. For example, such a rule may be that maintenance activities regarding the safety add-ons (such as secondary and auxiliary pumps) are allowed only when the system is in any primary mode other than production.

These rules can be implemented in the Scenario analyzerand stored in a scenario database. In the recommended architecture, the compliance with the rules can be checked by the scenario center.

  Guidelines for scenario-situation compatibility assurance

Alarming

  The system may generate warnings about changing the operational modes of sub-system, when the primary mode is production.

These warning should stay on until the operators resume normal operation of the safety add-ons. They should not alert, as long as the risk is not acute, and they must not interfere with high-priority alarms.

  Guidelines for alarm generation

Escalation prevention

  Escalation may occur when the operators disregard the warning for a while, and other hazards introduce additional risks. If this happens, the system may remind the operators about the original risks.

The guide recommends on intervention by the supervision unit, which may change the control from the primary station to the recovery station. This is not demonstrated in this case study.

Recovery facilitation

This case study does not demonstrate any method or guidelines for Recovery facilitation.

The guide recommends on intervention by the supervision unit, which may change the control from the primary station to the recovery station. This is not demonstrated in this case study.

Rescue facilitation

The guide recommends on intervention by the supervision unit, which may change the control from the recovery station to the rescue station. This is not demonstrated in this case study.


Updated on 10 May 2016.