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Understanding Safety Integrity Levels (SIL)

Safety integrity level (SIL) is a measurement used to specify the level of risk reduction required for a safety instrumented function. SIL is determined through a risk analysis and considers the frequency and severity of potential hazards. There are 5 SIL levels, with SIL 4 being the highest level of safety integrity and SIL 0 meaning no safety integrity. SIL level affects the acceptable probability of failure and availability of the safety system.

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60 views2 pages

Understanding Safety Integrity Levels (SIL)

Safety integrity level (SIL) is a measurement used to specify the level of risk reduction required for a safety instrumented function. SIL is determined through a risk analysis and considers the frequency and severity of potential hazards. There are 5 SIL levels, with SIL 4 being the highest level of safety integrity and SIL 0 meaning no safety integrity. SIL level affects the acceptable probability of failure and availability of the safety system.

Uploaded by

Holly Smith
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

SIL

Safety integrity level (SIL) is defined as a relative level of risk-reduction provided by a safety


function, or to specify a target level of risk reduction. In simple terms, SIL is a measurement of
performance required for a safety instrumented function (SIF). The higher the SIL level is, the
more efficient that function will be at reducing the risk it mitigates.

A Safety Integrity Level is determined via a procedure called Risk/Process Hazard Analysis
(PHA). It identifies all the hazards of a process and estimates the risks inherently involved and
determines if that risk is tolerable/acceptable. This safety procedure must verify that each
instrument utilized in the system (SIS) as well as each instrument’s parts such as sensors, logic
solvers and integral components will work safely to achieve the Safety Instrumented Functions
(SIF) in compliance with the confines required by SIL.

There are several methods used to assign a SIL. These are normally used in combination, and
may include:

 Risk matrices
 Risk graphs
 Layers of protection analysis (LOPA)
 Of the methods presented above, LOPA is by far the most commonly used by large
industrial facilities.

 SIL Level is a function of hazard frequency and hazard severity. Hazards that can occur more
frequently or that have more severe consequences will have higher SIL Levels.

Degree of safety integrity level grouped into 5 levels i.e. o to 5


SIL 0 = no safety integrity at all
SIL 4 = Highest possible of safety integrity level
PFH
RRF
SIL  (Probability of dangerous Availability
Risk reduction factors
failure per hour)

4 10-4 to 10-5 10000-100000 99.99 – 99.999

3 10-3 to 10-4 1000 - 10000 99.9 – 99.99


2 10-2 to 10-3 100 - 1000 99 – 99.9
-1 -2
1 10 to 10 10 - 100 90 - 99
-1
0 < 10 < 10 < 90

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