Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
What is FMEA?
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) seeks to identify hazards by identifying potential failure modes of the various parts of a system, the effects these failures may have on the system, the mechanisms of failure and how to avoid the failures and/or mitigate the effects of the failures.
What is the difference between FMEA and FMECA?
FMECA extends an FMEA so that each fault mode identified is ranked according to its Criticality (importance).
What can FMEA be used for?
Although originally intended for equipment items, it has also been adapted for procedures and software for example. It is very good at identifying single point failure modes, but not combinations of failure modes or common cause failure.
What are the benefits of FMEA?
FMEA can help to prevent failures occurring by identifying any potential issues before they occur. This can be undertaken at an early stage of design to maximise the opportunity to reduce risk and costs. Early use of FMEA can also reduce the potential for accidents or downtime later in the lifecycle, as the failure mode has been designed out or suitably mitigated.
What FMEA/FMECA services do Risktec provide?
Our services include:
- Facilitating and recording FMEA/FMECA workshops
- Conducting standalone FMEA/FMECA studies
- Qualitative reviews describing the causes/consequences of failure
- Criticality reviews to determine the importance of each failure
- Quantitative reviews to derive Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) for input into a reliability/availability study
Risktec consultants are specialists in applying FMEA to a range of systems, often alongside top down approaches such as fault tree analysis or HAZOP study, to maximise the confidence that the total picture is fully understood.