On Tuesday, LG Electronics Inc. concluded that it has been declared as a worldwide certification institute to test the functional safety of software systems. Its center was accredited as an association to validate the IEC 61508-3 standard by the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme.
LG can now issue a certificate providing software meets IEC 61508-3 requirements. Its certificate will be accepted in 70 countries, including the United States and Japan, under International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation’s mutual recognition arrangement.
IEC 61508 is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission consisting of methods on how to apply, design, deploy and maintain automatic protection systems called safety-related systems. It is a basic functional safety standard applicable to all kinds of industry. It defines functional safety as: “part of the overall safety relating to the Equipment Under Control (EUC) and the EUC control system which depends on the correct functioning of the E/E/PE safety-related systems, other technology safety-related systems and external risk reduction facilities.”
In October, LG’s software testing center was recognized as an institute to certify the ISO/IEC 25023 standard that measures software product quality.
With this recent accomplishment, LG said that its software testing center is the solely private-run establishment in South Korea to authorize both ISO/IEC 25023 as well as IEC 61508-3 standards for software development.