SIL 101: How Safe Do I Need to Be?

The global importance of SIL (Safety Integrity Levels) has grown substantially in the oil/gas, petrochemical and other process industries over the last 10 years. However, for many end users, systems integrators, and product vendors, SIL is still a somewhat ambiguous concept that often is misinterpreted and incorrectly implemented. In order to fully understand SIL and its implications, it is important to grasp the overarching concept known as Functional Safety, and how it applies to Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) within the process industries.