1. Purpose and scope
This stage shows that the product as it will be built does what it must in the conditions it will meet. Safety validation confirms, end to end, that each safety function achieves its safe state within its response time, including under faults and degraded conditions, against the safety requirements specification rather than the design. Type tests confirm compliance with the product safety, EMC, environmental and hazardous area standards on representative samples.
EMC for a safety product goes beyond the usual emissions and immunity tests. IEC 61326-3-1 and similar product family standards expect higher immunity levels for equipment performing safety functions, and a defined behaviour during disturbance: the safety function must continue or the product must go to a safe state, with no dangerous output. The test plan must state that behaviour and how it will be observed.
Results from this stage feed certification directly, so how the tests are done matters as much as whether they pass. Tests must be run by laboratories accredited for the standard and edition, on samples whose configuration is recorded, against a plan agreed with the certification bodies. A pass on an unrecorded sample, or a test outside a laboratory's scope, may not be accepted.
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