"Advising safety solutions to customers"

...says Tobias Thiesmann, Systems and Solutions Manager, Schmersal Group, in an interaction with Sanjay Jadhav, commenting on how user software is the responsibility of its developer.

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An ever-increasing number of safety functions are being mapped in software. What should users pay attention to during realisation?

Mapping safety functions in software is not really a problem. What is important, though, is that this software runs on hardware that is suitable for use in the field of functional safety. This can usually be identified by the manufacturer specifying the respective characteristic value, such as the Safety Integrity Level, Performance Level or Safety Category. The software itself must also satisfy certain requirements; standards ISO 13849-1 and 13849-2 offer an introduction to this. Programmable hardware allowing safety functions to be mapped in software is usually supplied by the manufacturer with a suitable programming environment.