In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Safety Integrity Level (SIL) allocation and its implications under WHS legislation.

They discuss their long history of working with IEC /AS 61508 and that their biggest caution is around Part 5 because it uses target levels of risk and safety as the basis for the SIL allocations.

They share that they’ve seen SIL ratings work really well and, at other times, where there's been a misunderstanding of what SIL is. They explain the importance of getting the context right, put your hazard in, identify what your critical hazard is, and then look at all the controls that can be put in place. And often they're the civil design sort of things and mechanical designs before you even go to the electronic systems.

If you’d like more information about Richard and Gaye’s work, head to www.r2a.com.au