New legislation following the Piper Alpha disaster has highlighted the unsatisfactory state of programmable equipment system (PES)-based emergency shutdown (ESD) systems for offshore installations. As in the nuclear generation industry, concern is being expressed for the quality of software, particularly project-specific or application software for these systems. The defence-in-depth approach adopted by the nuclear industry is impracticable for the offshore industry and new techniques for design and implementation of the project-specific software of ESD systems are urgently required.
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References
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Draft Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 1992. Published as a consultative document by the HSE, February 1992.
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* Software for computers in the application of industrial safety-related systems (BSI document 89/33006) (British Standards Institution, London).
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BS 4778: 1991Quality vocabulary, Section 3.1, Guide to concepts and related definitions—reliability of software (British Standards Institution, London).
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Programmable electronic systems (PES) in safety related applications, 2. General technical guidelines, October 1989 (HM Stationery Office, London). Published for the HSE.
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Software in safety-related systems. Report commissioned by the DTI, prepared by a joint project team of the BCS and the IEE, IEE, 1989.
