System and method for providing a visualization of safety events of a process control system over time

A system for visualizing safety events within a process plant, comprising:

• a user interface;
• a memory configured to store (i) a set of computer-executable instructions, and (ii) a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, wherein each of the set of effects are related to one or more causes of the set of causes as one or more cause-effect pairs whereby a corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of one or more corresponding causes, and wherein each of a set of monitored safety events within the process plant corresponds to the one or more cause-effect pairs;
• a processor interfaced with the user interface and the memory, and configured to execute the set of computer-executable instructions to cause the processor to:
• receive, via the user interface, a selection of a monitored safety event of the set of monitored safety events,
• determine, a first status of the monitored safety event at a first time, wherein the first status indicates a safety level of the monitored safety event corresponding to a safety logic of the CEM, where the safety level indicates a degree of degradation from a normal operating state based on the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event, where the degree of degradation is determined based on a number of the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event that have tripped out of a total number of the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event,
• detect a change in status to the monitored safety event indicating that the number of the one or more cause-effect pairs that have been tripped has changed,
• in response to the change in status:
• determine a second status of the monitored safety event at a second time according to the change in status, and
• cause the user interface to display an indication of the monitored safety event over time including at least the first status and the second status.

A computer-implemented method of visualizing safety events within a process plant, the method comprising:

• accessing safety logic corresponding to the process plant having a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an action to be performed within the process plant, wherein each of the set of effects are related to one or more causes as cause-effect pairs whereby a corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of one or more corresponding causes, and wherein each of a set of monitored safety events within the process plant corresponds to one or more of the cause-effect pairs;
• receiving, via a user interface, a selection of a monitored safety event of the set of monitored safety events;
• determining, a current status of the monitored safety event, wherein the current status indicates a safety level of the monitored safety event corresponding to the safety logic, where the safety level indicates a degree of degradation from a normal operating state based on the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event, where the degree of degradation is determined based on a number of the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event that have been tripped out of a total number of the one or more cause-effect pairs corresponding to the monitored safety event;
• displaying, in the user interface, the current status of the monitored safety event.