Where to buy the IEC61508 standard
As with everything to do with standards for the electricity and electrical industries, IEC61508 is published by the International Electrotechnical Commission itself. It can be bought from the organisation’s website directly either on CD or as a download; see the link below.
The IEC describes itself as “the world’s leading organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies - collectively known as electrotechnology. Wherever you find electricity and electronics, you find the IEC supporting safety and performance, the environment, electrical energy efficiency and renewable energies.”
The IEC also manages conformity assessment systems that certify that equipment, systems or components conform to its International Standards.
Buy the IEC61508 standard online directly from IEC
Functional Safety Book - Second Edition available
Functional Safety, A Straightforward Guide to Applying IEC 61508 and Related Standards is now available as a second edition. This fairly easy-to-read guide by David Smith and Kenneth Simpson has been expanded and improved.
IEC 61508 may be complex, but the book claims to overcome that complexity. It introduces the standard in the context of safety in general, then moves on to give practical advice about implementation and obtaining certification. It also explains how IEC 61508 relates to second tier standards and related guidance, such as IEC 61511, 61513, UKOOA, ISA S84.01 and DIN standards, among others. The authors illustrate their explanations with examples, and four case studies with exercises set the information in context. Templates and checklists for drawing up your own implementation plan and information on self-certification are also provided.
The publishers say that as Functional Safety is applicable to many industries, Functional Safety in its previous edition proved to be an invaluable reference for professionals from a variety of industries, such as project, instrumentation, design and control engineering as well as the oil and gas, chemical, rail, power generation, nuclear, aircraft, and automotive sectirs.
The new edition includes a new chapter on IEC 61511, the process sector standard, published since the first edition. The text has been updated throughout in light of the authors recent experience and two case studies have been added.
Review of the previous edition: “As a straightforward guide to IEC 61508 this book will be difficult to surpass. I can’t remember recommending a book to my peers and colleagues with so much enthusiasm; it really is a reference book worth having” - Malcolm Warren in Measurement and Control.
More details on Functional Safety: A Straightforward Guide to Applying IEC 61508 and Related Standards
More details on Functional Safety: A Straightforward Guide to Applying IEC 61508 and Related Standards
Introduction to Functional Safety - Free Application Note
Here’s a very nice explanatory guide to IEC61508 which again, goes back a while, but has some good material in it. MTL’s An introduction to Functional Safety and IEC 61508 points out that the benefits to users are that a more scientific, numeric approach to specifying and designing safety systems is possible; the nature of the risk can be quantified; and a protective system appropriate to the risk can be designed. It means that under- or over-specifying of protective systems is less likely and, in many cases, a less expensive solution can be shown to provide adequate protection.
The Application Note is intended to provide a brief introduction to the IEC61508 standard and to illustrate how it is applied, although it does not claim to be a complete interpretation of the standard - not in just 16 pages!
Download your free Functional Safety Application Note
An introduction to IEC61508: free brochure
For a very general introduction to IEC61508, there’s a long-serving but decent enough downloadable brochure on the IEC website. Simply titled Functional safety of electrical/ electronic/ programmable electronic safety-related systems, the 12-page document is a good management-level backgrounder and lists all the full IEC61508 specification documents. You can download a copy of the IEC61508 brochure here (PDF, 524kB).
