Functional Safety Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Functional Safety Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Global Functional Safety Market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period. From the demand perspective, industries, such as oil and gas, are being challenged by the post-effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Owing to this, producers have rapidly slashed capital spending and drilling programs. Although, the technological trends continue to indicate manufacturers introducing new products, with the government and safety standards shaping the market.

• Functional safety applies to all industries today, and it is increasing in demand as manufacturers and end-users look to mitigate associated risks further. With the growing use of automated equipment for manufacturing, testing, and process control, the need to avoid equipment damage, injuries, and environmental damage is more critical than ever. Growing demands and expectations from governments and workers have led manufacturers and suppliers to use predictable ways to achieve and design equipment to meet certain safety requirements.
• The efficacy of the safety system is not based solely on regulatory and technical aspects but also on an in-depth functional analysis of the organization, production processes, and the human factor. In the past, machinery safety was largely considered the cost. However, safety technologies might be seen as an investment in business productivity. Products like safety switches and relays have become common. With the adoption of integrated technologies and approaches to safety, PLCs, and safety mechanisms, too, have witnessed widespread use while having a limited impact on system engineering and planning.
• Safety relays and controllers monitor the primary safety devices that protect personnel from accident and injury, ensuring safe stop and start functions on equipment with hazardous motion. Safety switches are necessary for all industrial applications, per the code stated by international organizations and associations like the National Electrical Code (NEC) established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NEC article 430.102B says that a safety switch must be in sight from all motors or manufacturing equipment, with a disconnecting means (for the motor) shall be visible and located not more than 50 feet from the motor.
• However, the constantly changing and evolving safety standards also translate into updating the safety measures and design of the existing product line-ups to continue the compliance offered by the safety devices, including newer technologies. In August 2021, the IEC published a new edition of IEC 62061, the safety of machinery – Functional safety of safety-related control systems, providing an approach to achieve the necessary performance of the safety functions to reduce the potential hazards generated by machines (including non-electrical systems.
• The COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown restrictions across the world have affected industrial activities across the globe. Some of the effects of lockdown include supply chain disruptions, lack of availability of raw materials used in the manufacturing process, labor shortages, fluctuating prices that could cause the production of the final product to inflate and go beyond budget, and shipping problems, etc. The pandemic has impacted the progress of several projects, resulting in pipelines getting stalled or delayed.

• Safety Sensors are used for machine guarding/ personnel protection, for perimeter monitoring and body part protection, or to protect hazardous areas. These sensors detect the presence of humans within a specified area and reduce the possibility of accidents, which can be achieved through tripping function or presence detection.
• Stringent safety regulations by the government and standards organizations are driving the growth of safety sensors. The specifications and safety requirements posed by the safety associations are putting pressure on end-user industries to increase their safety investments further. Similarly, the boards help ensure the safety and reliability offered by the sensors and their specialized application for added accuracy, which provides safe usage.
• In April 2022, The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published a new standard, Electrical Submeter—Current Sensor Accuracy ANSI/NEMA SM 31000-7-2021, covering metrological requirements and associated testing for current sensors used with electrical energy submeters for analyzing accuracy. It applies to multiple sensor technologies with various outputs, enabling current measurement for AC and DC electrical submetering.
• Additionally, according to Safety Media, up to 1.3 million workers suffer from work-related illnesses. Approximately 72,702 reported cases of employers experiencing non-fatal injuries, while 144 workers suffered from fatal ones. Companies offer new worker safety solutions deploying sensor technologies.
• In March 2022, Gaurdhat announced the first industrial-grade solution for monitoring worker conditions. The solution included various wearable sensors and software for real-time monitoring and event-based alerts to help prevent injuries or fatal incidences from exposure to heat, radiation, gas, noise, over-exertion, or worker-specific health issues.

• The United States is one of the major global functional safety markets. The country is renowned for its innovation capabilities and is at the forefront of major developments surrounding the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. New-found shale resources in the United States and an increasing number of oil and gas projects are additional indicators of the market potential.
• Various companies have got their products certified for functional safety to cater to the demand in multiple applications such as Automotive, Industrial, Consumer Electronics, etc. In July 2021, Cadence Design Systems announced that SGS-TÜV Saar has independently certified that the company’s Tensilica Xtensa processors with FlexLock capability got certified for functional safety to ASIL-D and are ready for use in the most safety-critical automotive applications. It met the ISO 26262:2018 standard to ASIL-D, one of the major standards under the Automotive Safety Integrity Level rating. These are suitable for the automotive industry and tailored for AI, vision, radar, lidar, audio, and control applications.
• The US government and its regulatory bodies update the required standards by addressing different aspects of different products and industries. In March 2022, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a Final Rule amending the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to account for vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS). The Final Rule updated the FMVSS to resolve certain ambiguities while applying the standards to vehicles without traditional manual controls despite maintaining the existing regulatory text wherever possible, providing a unified set of regulatory text applicable to vehicles with and without ADS functionality.
• The ecosystem in the country also witnesses partnerships with major affiliated government sectors, shaping the development of functional safety products and applications. In February 2022, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers helped the new federal office, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office), expand the EV charging network infrastructure across the US. Such developments create opportunities for the country’s regulatory electronics and software applications to ensure operational safety for the users and technicians on a large scale.
• With the increasing stringency in the government regulations, the organizations concentrate on monitoring and controlling their carbon emission per product, which is expected to drive the demand for fire and gas monitoring systems in the country. In August 2022, MSA launched the HazardWatch FX-12 fire and gas system, deploying the company’s detection and systems integration experience with the process control/automation proficiency of Rockwell Automation. The system’s controller hardware configuration and software were tested by Factory Mutual (FM) to verify NFPA 72 (2013) compliance.

The Functional Safety Market is witnessing moderate to high consolidation. The players are offering solutions specific to each application, such as fire safety (fire and gas monitoring and control), pressure safety (high-integrity pressure protection systems), and asset safety (emergency shutdown systems). The key players operating in the market are focusing on new product development strategies to strengthen their product portfolio and increase customer acquisition, adhering to the government norms and regulations.

• November 2021 - Emerson introduced two new open path gas detectors to increase safety and reduce downtime by offering performance reliability over wide areas in extreme environments and an easier and faster installation and commissioning process. The Rosemount 935 Open Path Combustible Gas Detector uses infrared technology to detect highly combustible hydrocarbon gases, including methane, propane, and ethylene. The Rosemount 936 Open Path Toxic Gas Detector uses ultraviolet technology to detect hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, two of industrial facilities’ most common toxic gases.
• October 2021 - Honeywell announced the Searchline Excel Plus and Searchline Excel Edge connected gas detectors, which can continuously monitor dangerous gases even in fog, rain, snow, and other inclement weather. It further assists facilities in keeping their oil and gas, petrochemical, chemical, and other workers and industrial sites safe.

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