ISO 26262 requirements explained: video brief

Twelve parts along the safety lifecycle

ISO 26262 does not follow the clause 4 to 10 structure of ISO management system standards. Its twelve parts follow the safety lifecycle, and each scales its requirements to the ASIL: an ASIL D safety goal demands more methods, more independence and more evidence than an ASIL A goal. This short film walks through the parts.

Part 2, management of functional safety, applies at two levels. For the organisation it covers safety culture, rules and processes, safety anomalies, competence and a quality management system. For each item it covers roles, impact analysis, tailoring, planning, the safety case, confirmation measures and release for production. In practice that means a functional safety process set, a competence matrix, a safety anomaly log, planned safety activities per project, confirmation reports and a safety case at release.

From concept to production

Part 3, the concept phase, defines the item, carries out hazard analysis and risk assessment, assigns ASILs to safety goals and derives the functional safety concept. The parts that follow cover product development at the system, hardware and software levels, production, operation, service and decommissioning, supporting processes, ASIL-oriented and safety-oriented analyses, and guidance, with further parts for semiconductors and motorcycles.

The series applies to vehicle manufacturers, suppliers at every tier and developers of automotive hardware, software, semiconductors and tools, for cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles. ISO 26262:2018 is the second edition, and the third edition is in draft. There is no accredited management system certificate; certification bodies certify products, tools and development processes under their own programmes, alongside the confirmation measures the standard itself calls for.

An automotive safety integrity level is assigned to each safety goal through the hazard analysis and risk assessment, which rates each hazardous event for severity, probability of exposure and controllability; ASIL D carries the most stringent requirements, and QM marks hazards handled by normal quality management. The functional safety assessment needs the independence the standard sets for the ASIL, so a consultant who helped produce the work products cannot carry it out. IATF 16949 does not cover the safety lifecycle of the electrical and electronic design itself, so suppliers developing safety-related systems still need ISO 26262.