Automatic safety analysis of control systems

This paper describes and demonstrates the development of a computer support tool for safety analysis of computer control systems, dedicated to carry out safety analysis automatically in a consistent way. This support tool is made up of seven connected parts: process description, control logic specification, process control event diagram (PCED) generation, control logic verification, hazard analysis, safety related questions, and report generation. The distinction of the support tool is its automatic conversion from a process block diagram to a diagrammatic representation of control logic, i.e. PCED, and semi-automatic generation of SMV (Symbolic Model Verifier) model for control logic verification. This tool provides the support to all the stages in the safety analysis.