The CFSE Advisory Board, in conjunction with industry experts, determines curricula based on the competencies required by international standards and industry best practice. As industries evolve through the application of improved or different technology, the board reserves the right to revise curricula to reflect these changes.
It is important to note that questions related to Configuration Management, Functional Safety Management and Safety Architecture are other topics that may be asked. These are all areas that must be understood by both hardware and software engineers to avoid safety design errors. Engineers should have a good understanding of diagnostic techniques that often require a combination of hardware and software.
The curriculum for this program consists of general (but not limited to) knowledge plus the knowledge in the applicable field of expertise:
General requirements of IEC61508 and IEC61511
Other relevant national and international standards (US EPA RMP and US OSHA PSM)
Common terms and definitions, i.e.
Safety, availability, and reliability relationships
Safety Lifecycle concepts and objectives
Requirements for Management of Functional Safety
General documentation requirements, i.e.
Change control requirements
Approval requirements, independence of approval
Hazard identification, analysis and risk assessment concepts and procedures
ALARP and tolerable risk
Identifying safety functions
Consequence analysis concepts
Likelihood analysis concepts
Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Target Selection
SIL selection concepts and procedures
Layer of Protection Analysis
Safety Requirements Specification requirements
Operations requirements
Typical failure modes of equipment used in SIS
Wear out mechanisms of equipment used in SIS
SIF verification and detailed design
SIL verification concepts and procedures
Understanding of different calculation methods and limitations
Understanding of failure rate data and limitations
Understanding of periodic test procedures and effectiveness