As part of our quality led ethos, and especially when developing bespoke software solutions for safety related software systems, we are highly conscious of the need to adhere to industry standards. The protocols that we use are defined by set standards but some industries and environments require even higher levels to be adhered to, such as those standards for safety critical systems. We willingly accept this and see it not as a challenge to our embedded software and hardware design and development work but more as a vindication of the high standards that we set ourselves. Indeed some of our most successful projects have been those that were developed to those exacting standards for safety-critical systems and achieved a level of success that our clients were truly impressed with.

 

In addition to standards that define protocols (see Protocols), we’ve delivered projects using the following:

EN50128

The European standard EN 50128 “Railway applications – Communication, signalling and processing systems – Software for railway control and protection systems” specifies procedures and technical requirements for the development of programmable electronic systems which are used in railway software development for control and protection applications.

The rail-industry standards for safety-critical systems were applied when we worked on a CCTV system with a number of safety-critical requirements, specific to railway software development, which was completed on-time and externally audited with full compliance.

IEC60601

IEC 60601 is a series of technical standards for the safety and effectiveness of medical electrical equipment, published by the International Electrotechnical Commission. First published in 1977 and regularly updated and restructured, as of 2011 it consists of a general standard, about 10 collateral standards, and about 60 particular standards.

These medical standards for safety-critical systems were applied when we helped develop a new medical product. Please see our case study on isokinetics.

If you have development requirements for products or systems needing to conform to standards for safety-critical systems do contact us.