Failure Rate Data: Understanding and Sourcing them for your SIF Designs

Every functional safety engineer encounters the same challenge at some point: selecting the right failure rate data for Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) design calculations. Questions around data accuracy, source reliability, and potential optimism are not just common; they’re critical.

On April 28th, Pieter Poldervaart will explore what failure rate data actually represents, review the most widely used data sources, and discuss how to evaluate them in alignment with IEC 61511 requirements. By grounding the theory in a practical context, this session will help you better understand the role of failure rate data in achieving reliable, compliant SIF designs.

This session also marks the beginning of a broader Cenosco webinar series focused on improving the understanding of key input parameters used in SIF Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) calculations. Future sessions will cover Beta factors, Test Coverage, Useful Life, MTTR, and more, combining technical clarity with real-world application.