Historically, the industry viewed safety practices as punitive actions or compliance activities, not as opportunities to deliver real value or gain a competitive edge. These days, however, manufacturers understand that a well-designed safety system can help improve their efficiency and productivity, and machine builders increasingly recognize how safety systems can improve both business and machine performance, helping differentiate themselves to potential customers.
功能安全标准，新的安全技术和创新设计方法的结合将安全定位为可以带来巨大业务和经济价值的核心系统功能。这包括财务回报，超出了减少与事故和医疗费用相关的成本的收益。
系统的方法
为了获得更高水平的功能安全性并体验所得的好处，系统设计人员必须深入了解制造过程，并明确确定机械限制和功能，以及对人们与之互动的各种方式的全面了解机械。他们还需要采取一种实用，严格的方法来安全系统设计，并愿意实施和应用新的安全技术和技术。
标准IEC 61508和IEC 62061中定义的功能安全生命周期为这项用于机械应用程序的详细，更系统的设计过程奠定了基础。安全生命周期的关键目标是解决事故的原因。为此，设计师旨在创建一个有助于降低风险，满足适当技术要求并帮助确保人员能力的系统。以前的标准依赖于定义特定保障的规定措施。新的功能标准是基于性能的，这使设计人员更容易量化和证明安全价值合理。该方法使用一种更有条理的确定性方法，并提供了为应用程序量身定制特定安全功能的能力。它有助于降低成本和复杂性，改善机器的可持续性，并有助于为每个定义的安全电路或功能提高最佳的安全水平，以提高投资回报率。
安全Lifecycle phases
进行风险评估是安全生命周期的第一阶段。风险评估为总体降低风险过程提供了基础，涉及以下步骤：
•使用固有安全的设计概念通过设计帮助消除危害
•使用硬保护和安全设备采用保障和保护措施
•实施互补的安全措施，包括个人防护设备（PPE）
•通过程序，培训和监督帮助实现更安全的工作练习
在设计安全系统时，风险评估有助于确定存在哪些潜在危害，并应实施哪些安全机制以帮助确保对其进行充分保护。
功能生命周期为几个高效的“设计”安全概念提供了框架。这些包括被动，可配置和可锁定的系统设计。
Easier and More Intuitive
A passive approach aligns with the design philosophy that safety systems should be easy to use and not hinder production. The reason that operators might elect to bypass safety systems is that the systems are cumbersome or impractical or do not easily accommodate maintenance and operating procedures.
一个有效的被动系统设计执行其福nction automatically – with little if any effort required on the part of the user. Moreover, when intelligently applied, a passive design can help boost productivity.
For example, in many production operations, manufacturers often use a light curtain to help prevent machine motion when an operator enters a hazardous area. Other approaches, such as a safety interlock gate, require operators to perform a task to initiate the safety function. Even if it only takes 10 seconds to open and close the gate for each cycle, that time accumulates over the course of a 200-cycle day. With a light curtain, the operator simply breaks the infrared barrier when entering hazardous areas and the operation comes to a safe stop. Over time, this passive design helps increase productivity and creates a positive return.
Another approach that helps limit exposure to hazards and reduces the incentive to bypass the safety system is a configurable design, which allows operators to alter the behavior of the safety system based on the task they need to perform.
For example, in many cases, an operator may need to access a machine and still need some form of power enabled to perform a maintenance function, clear a jam or teach a robot. The initial risk assessment identifies and defines all the tasks, including these, that must be performed on the machine with or without power. The assessment offers insight to create a configurable design that meets global safety requirements, helps increase productivity and helps reduce the incentive to bypass the system. In most cases, inexpensive components, like push buttons, selector switches and lights, are all that is needed to achieve an acceptable level of safety.
Turning Safety into Productivity
Using a lockable system design to systematically reduce mean time to repair (MTTR) can help boost productivity. This approach allows operators to select a safety configuration then lock it in place at the point of entry. In addition to helping protect configuration changes, a lockable design also helps achieve higher productivity by using the safety system in lieu of lock-out/tag-out (LO/TO) for many routine maintenance and setup procedures.
For example, in a LO/TO situation, operators may need to use six locks to safely shut down a line including electronic, pneumatic and robotic systems. Shutting down the entire machine can be time-consuming and inefficient – causing excessive downtime that hinders productivity. If the safety system meets the target safety level – and complies with standard ANSI Z244-1 – the safety system can be used to disable the hazards. In this case, LO/TO is not required. Instead of locking the disconnect switch, operators only lock the safety system.
与将LO/停机时间减少到几分钟相关的潜在成本节省通常被证明是很大的。例如，假设制造商能够使用这种可锁定设计方法将MTTR减少两分钟。如果停机时间的价值为10,000美元，而工厂平均每年3,000个停机事件（每天8次），则安全解决方案的价值相当于每年约6000万美元（10,000美元x 2分钟x 3,000）。
精心设计的安全系统的深远经济利益太大了，无法忽视。使用可靠的安全技术以及安全生命周期中定义的严格方法，制造商和机器建造者可以利用智能安全系统设计的固有价值，以帮助提高生产率，降低人工成本并最终提高底线。
