UK Are HSE taking it a bit too far?

[Jason*]

Good afternoon all,
I have a question for those who are CompEx and SIL aware - I have various Ex ia systems installed around site, my manager is feeling pressure from HSE to change everything to SIL 2 rated equipment. Realistically, ia equipment could be considered SIL 3/4 (or at least certainly better than SIL 2) as it is already unlikely to fail, but has 2 back-ups/fail-safes if it were to, yet it doesn't have any SIL rating/registration. It is very difficult currently to find components that are both Ex and SIL rated and I don't see that they are needed to be changed. I think this would ultimately be a waste of time and money just to have the same thing with another label printed on to it.
What are your thoughts on this? Are the HSE right to try to enforce this?

 

[Mike Johnson]

No the HSE can not force you to do anything unless the particular item they are referring to is against a regulation, I have found in the past on this sort of thing that it is a foible of the inspector, once asked for the reasons in writing it all goes a bit quiet.

 

[Jason*]

No the HSE can not force you to do anything unless the particular item they are referring to is against a regulation, I have found in the past on this sort of thing that it is a foible of the inspector, once asked for the reasons in writing it all goes a bit quiet.

Great, I was under the same impression but I am glad for the reassurance, thank you Mike. Fortunately today I have found the regulation that confirms my beliefs and will certainly be more than enough to put al their concerns to rest (BS EN 50495).