TLDR; Kenexis: Safety Instrument System Engineering Handbook

TLDR; covers books that help industrial automation professionals. Some of these are dull (but important!) reference texts with arcane calculations, others are chilling thrillers on pertinent topics (like Burn In). This book has math about a grim (and crucial) subject.

Kenexis: Safety Instrument System Engineering Handbook, by Mitchell, Longendelpher and Kuhn, is an excellent introduction to Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). SIS are the ways that our field can mitigate unacceptable threats into manageable ones. It is a stark reminder of what our profession entails and the responsibilities put upon our industry.

If you get the book, skip ahead to Figures 7 and 10. Figure 7 is rather trite... until you read Figure 10. If you are not motivated to read the book after seeing those two charts (in that order), I recommend you rethink a career in this field.

This book is a short read and covers (very briefly): conceptual process design, process hazards analysis, Safety Instrumented Functions, Safety Integrity Level, choosing design specification, developing procedures and more. It is published by Kenexis, a process safety consulting firm.

This is the type of book I would buy and read before hiring an expert on a subject. It gives the user the vocabulary required to have a knowledgeable conversation about the topic, rather than one diving into enough depth for you to perform it at a professional level.