It has been over six months since kVA was acquired by UL. In this short time frame, we have been able to successfully conduct multiple UL Certified Functional Safety Professional (UL-CFSP) private and public trainings in ISO 26262 and will be extending the UL-CFSP training offerings across multiple other disciplines including IEC 61508 and ISO 13849, among others this year.

Additionally, UL has established the UL Certified Functional Safety eXpert (UL-CFSX) program, recognizing the world’s brightest leaders in functional safety. This distinction is available to anyone who is already certified in functional safety, has over five years of experience in the field and passes an oral exam given by UL’s assessors.

Looking forward, I’m excited to announce that I will now be leading up the functional safety assessment and certification programs, not just in ISO 26262, but across all functional safety industries globally at UL. This will allow me to provide clients further services, such as assessments, audits and software tool qualifications that might have been previously limited at kVA.

Bill Taylor, managing director at kVA by UL and my business partner for over nine years, will continue to lead up functional safety advisory services which kVA is traditionally known for. However, given UL’s strict required independence process between our groups, there will now be a clear distinction to allow for the highest integrity of functional safety assessments.

Furthermore, I would like to point out some clarifications and inclusions of functional safety assessments in the ISO 26262:2018 second edition standard.

  1. First, there is a clear line established showing two separate aspects of functional safety assessments: (1) a limited scope assessment, concerning the suppliers in the supply chain; and (2) the final functional safety assessment performed by the vehicle manufacturer judging that functional safety has been achieved by the integrated item (the complete system installed on the vehicle). Beginning this year, UL will support both aspects. We will directly be providing assessments for (1), but for (2) we will be providing an assess the assessor program to help ensure the highest level of safety at the vehicle level.
  2. Other clarifications include enabling the functional safety assessor to fully accept a previous functional safety audit, assuming they believe it to be satisfactory (Note: an audit is an extension of the assessment). Additionally, it is possible for the functional safety assessor to be the actual person that performed a confirmation review within the assessed project itself. Ultimately this enables the functional safety assessor to perform all confirmation measures as defined by ISO 26262, assuming the appropriate independence is met.
  3. Lastly, I wanted to note that in ISO 26262:2018, it is allowed for the functional safety assessor to appoint one or more assistants to support the functional safety assessment, assuming the assistant(s) maintain at least I1 level of independence (a different person in relation to the person responsible for creating the actual work product).

I would like to conclude by thanking every customer of kVA by UL. I personally look forward to working with many of you now in my new role within functional safety assessment. As part of UL, we now have global capabilities and can work across all disciplines and industries within functional safety. I hope to hear from you all.

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