1. Purpose and scope
This stage fixes what the product is for and under which rules it will be judged. An industrial or energy product is judged on whether it can be trusted inside a safety instrumented system, a machine, a substation or a power converter for the life of that installation. The stage defines the application, the equipment under control, the operating environment, the markets and the certification schemes, and it sets up the management plans that will govern safety and security work from here to the end of support.
In the language of the IEC 61508 safety lifecycle this stage covers the concept and the overall scope definition. The concept phase builds enough understanding of the equipment under control and its environment, physical, legislative and organisational, for the hazard analysis to be meaningful. The scope definition sets the boundary of the equipment under control and of the product, and says which hazards and which interfaces are in or out. A boundary drawn too narrowly leaves hazards that nobody owns.
12 more sections for registered members.