Kugler Maag Cie is an official DAkkS certified C-type inspection body on functional safety assessments (FSA)

DAkkS, the German National Accreditation Body, has certified Kugler Maag Cie as an accredited C-type inspection body: Functional safety assessments (FSA) conducted by Kugler Maag Cie are thus officially recognised by DAkkS.

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Functional safety assessments (FSAs) involve systematically ascertaining whether functional safety has actually been achieved. This requires advanced levels of know-how and expertise on the part of the experts who conduct assessments. Inspections and assessments require evidence of agreed activities and measures aimed at achieving functional safety. This evidence must comply with ISO 26262 requirements. Assessments, which may be conducted during different phases of the safety life cycle, cover all tasks or activities that need to be underway or completed for each stage. FSAs also pull together results from individual functional safety audit(s). The latter determine whether a company’s safety management systems and the culture of safety adhered to within the organisation are suitable for achieving defined safety goals.

THE GERMAN ACCREDITATION BODY GMBH CONFIRMS

Kugler Maag Cie as C-type inspection body. This is why that we have the competence according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020:2012 to perform inspections in the following areas of automotive functional safety:

  • systems,
  • components,
  • hardware and
  • software

For this purpose we are accredited under the number D-IS-21267-01.

Quote

For release for production, the functional safety achieved must be confirmed by an independent person. This is referred to as a functional safety assessment.

Erwin Petry, PhD, FS Expert and author of industry publications Kugler Maag Cie

What to expect during an assessment

“To move to release for production, confirmation of the achieved level of functional safety has to be obtained. That’s what’s known as a functional safety assessment,” explains Dr Erwin Petry, functional safety expert and co-author of the standard industry publication on Functional Safety in Practice. Depending on the automotive safety integrity level (ASIL), confirmation must be provided by an independent person. As an official inspection agency, we assess the suitability of safety measures and activities carried out for a project. The FSA allows us to make certain decisions with a bearing on functional safety and safety integrity, as defined by the ASIL.

Your project team working on safety-critical systems should have a plan for upcoming FSA activities in keeping with the current phase of the safety life cycle. Implementation, on the other hand, is our responsibility as an independent inspection agency. Drawing on our experience in developing safety-critical systems, we then check and assess your documentation and conduct in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. You then receive a comprehensive report highlighting any identified gaps and required improvements.

The FSA procedure frequently unearths shortcomings in processes and sometimes even lays bare omissions that are not possible to uncover when auditing safety management systems. Finally, our certified assessors examine a live project to understand the conditions you apply when actually developing safety-critical automotive electronics.

DAkkS German National Accrediton Body

DAkkS, the German National Accreditation Body, is a non-profit organization that acts as a central, national accreditation body for the Federal Republic of Germany.

dakks.de

 

Internationally recognised accreditation

“As a prospective inspection agency, we had to prove to DAkkS that as an independent accreditation body we’re in a position to conduct assessments professionally and competently. You’re required to maintain uniform standards that are comparable on an international level,” reports Andrei Donciuc, project manager for the accreditation process at Kugler Maag Cie. Similar to audits, accreditation involved passing through a number of loops. For example, our experts had to introduce DAkkS to our internal management system and demonstrate our technical know-how. Following the process, we were approved by the accreditation committee as an official inspection body. “We will be reassessed in the future as part of the regular monitoring process, so we’ll have to be able to demonstrate that we can also keep up the high standards,” emphasises Donciuc.

The idea of this approach to accreditation is to ensure FSA results remain comparable. This engenders confidence in the system, based on the knowledge that activities carried out to safeguard the functional safety of automotive electronics are actually suited to their intended purpose. The accreditation awarded to Kugler Maag Cie as an inspection agency is valid throughout the world.