Customers set to benefit from teaming agreement
7 September 2011
|
.jpg)
Hima-Sella and Capelrig team up to meet the Oil & Gas sector’s call for closer ties between control and safety systems
SPE Offshore Europe 2011, Aberdeen, United Kingdom - Specialist safety systems expert Hima-Sella and independent control and automation systems provider Capelrig have entered a teaming agreement to serve the Oil & Gas sector. Under the agreement the companies will design, engineer, install and service Integrated Control and Safety Systems (ICSS).
Regarded as leaders in their chosen fields of operation Hima-Sella and Capelrig were both established in the 1970s, have been BS EN ISO 9001 registered for several years and have similar philosophies on how best to integrate control and safety systems.
Under the teaming agreement Hima-Sella and Capelrig will work together to prepare and present proposals to plant operators and owners. Moreover, the Oil & Gas customers of both Hima-Sella and Capelrig are set to benefit from the teaming agreement because: complementary control and safety skills can be brought quickly to any given project; all project/programme management aspects are now enhanced by the shared experiences of the two companies; and increased human resources means the ability to take on larger projects.
Eddy Turnock, Hima-Sella’s Sales & Marketing Director, comments: “Whilst safety systems need to have varying degrees of independence and autonomy, their integration with control systems is a must in order to satisfy the requirements of IEC 61508 and 61511 in providing an independent control and safety philosophy. We’re therefore delighted to have established this teaming agreement with Capelrig, as the company has an outstanding reputation in the offshore Oil & Gas sector.”
Brian Hill, Capelrig’s Managing Director, adds: “Within the industry there is a growing demand for tighter integration between control and safety systems, but it’s important that the integration doesn’t distract from the benefits of the respective systems. It makes sense therefore for the providers of control and safety systems to establish closer working bonds to architect solutions that are built around the best of what each company has to offer. Accordingly, we’re extremely pleased to be partnering with Hima-Sella.”
The teaming agreement between Hima-Sella and Capelrig comes within a year of a report published by the Scandinavia-based research organisation SINTEF in which concern was expressed over the increasing levels of inadequate segmentation between Process Control and Safety Instrumented Systems. Here, ‘inadequate segmentation’ not only includes the sharing of hardware resources but also the ability of subordinate systems to influence superior ones or, as SINTEF observed, “signals in the wrong direction”. Accordingly, failure of a subordinate system (for whatever reason) could result in a safety-critical error in the overall system.
Turnock concludes: “Since the SINTEF report came out plant owners and operators are increasingly required to demonstrate that, if integrated, their process and safety systems are complementary and that there are no conflicts of interest. The Hima-Sella & Capelrig teaming philosophy aims to ensure that the segmentation exists from the start, and we believe we are the first two companies to respond with a solution to the concerns expressed by SINTEF.”
For more information, contact Hima-Sella Ltd, Carrington Field St, Stockport, Cheshire. SK1 3JN. UK. Tel: +44 (0) 161 429 4500. www.hima-sella.co.uk
|
|
