Standards Development
IEC 61508 is published as Edition 2 which is available and may be purchased from BSI. Development work on Edition 3 has already started and a “Committee Draft” (CD) has been published and commented on. The expectation is that IEC 61508 Edition 3 will be available sometime in 2027.
Functional Safety Standards Development
International functional safety standards are under continuous development and maintenance and are revised periodically. The 61508 Association is a nominating organisation for the BSI subcommittee GEL/65/1 and several members contribute to the revisions of many of these standards.
IEC Sub-Committee (SC) 65A Scope
The defined SC 65A scope is to prepare international standards regarding the generic aspects of systems used in industrial process measurement, control and manufacturing automation: operational conditions (including EMC), methodology for the assessment of systems, functional safety, etc. SC 65A also has a safety pilot function to prepare standards dealing with functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic systems.
Both the IEC 61508 family of standards and the IEC 61511 family of standards are under the scope of IEC SC 65A (with many other standards).
Our close cooperation for Conformity Assessment of Safety-related Systems (CASS) schemes and templates means that our standards development work has relevance for the definition of practical conformance.
Our unique position, with members representing multiple lifecycle roles, and being involved in standards development enables us to produce relevant guidance (available in our “downloads” section).
BSI SC GEL/65/1 (Shadows IEC SC 65A)
Under the direction of GEL/65, GEL/65/1 is responsible for the UK input into IEC/SC 65A whose scope is: To prepare standards regarding the generic aspects of systems used in industrial-process measurement, control and manufacturing automation: operational conditions (including EMC), methodology for the assessment of systems, functional safety, human factors etc. GEL/65/1 also has a safety pilot function to prepare standards dealing with functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic systems. GEL/65/1 is also responsible for providing the UK input to CENELEC/TC 65X and liaisons with other relevant organizations.
The 61508 Association is also a nominating organisation for BSI GEL/65/3, for “Industrial Networks”, and BSI GEL/65/5, for “Devices and integration in enterprise systems”, to enable us to support other systems and process automation type developments. Our members are also involved in other standards development activities, for example those focussed on machinery safety.
Association members are currently active in the updating of the functional safety standards.
Knowledge Hub
Downloads
