How we work
Precision is the product.
Whether we are analysing a year of alarms, reviewing a controller program, verifying a trip against its cause-and-effect matrix or commissioning a loop, the method is the same: check the work against a source of truth, prove it rather than sample it, and hand you evidence your engineers can check. An opinion can’t be audited. A calculation can.
- Alarm management42 of 42 checks on real offshore wellsFoxALM validated end to end on field data.
- Control logicConfigured versus documentedEvery mismatch between the controller and its documents, listed.
- Cause and effectInterlocks proven, not sampledProperties checked across every case, scan by scan.
- Safety systemsCommon-cause failure researchVoting architectures reviewed by engineers who study how they fail.
- FieldOffshore and onshore commissioningWe commission what we review, through Red Fox Automation.
The rules we hold ourselves to
The same seven rules on every job, whatever the discipline.
Start from a source of truth
Every job begins by naming what the work is checked against: a standard, a matrix, a narrative, a tag register.
In practiceA PLC review compares the running controller with its narrative and cause-and-effect matrix. A FoxALM run measures every KPI against ISA-18.2 targets.
Specify before we build or change
Methods and logic changes are written down, with their basis, before they are implemented.
In practiceEvery FoxALM analytical method has a formula-level specification. Every recommended logic change states the design intent it restores.
Prove, don’t sample
Where a property can be proven for every case, we prove it rather than spot-check a few.
In practiceInterlock logic is checked mathematically against the matrix; minimized logic is proven equivalent to the original before anything changes.
Validate on data we didn’t choose
Our tools are tested on real, independently labelled data, with checks written before the first run.
In practiceFoxALM passed all 42 label-derived checks across ten event classes of real offshore well data.
Say less than the evidence
Every claim is bounded by what was measured. A shorter sentence may drop detail; it never adds certainty.
In practiceFindings carry their confidence, and reports state what was not tested alongside what was.
Make every result traceable
You can follow any finding back to its evidence and reproduce it.
In practiceFoxALM runs record fingerprints of every input. Code findings name the program, routine and rung. Every finding cites its clause.
Publish our own defects
When real data or a real plant exposes a flaw in our work, we record it, fix it and say so.
In practiceReal well data surfaced three defects in FoxALM; all were fixed and disclosed before results were published.
What precise means, discipline by discipline
Each discipline has its own source of truth and its own way of proving the work.
| Discipline | Checked against | How we prove it | What you receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alarm management | ISA-18.2, IEC 62682 and EEMUA 191 performance targets; your historian record | Validated analytical methods, statistical before-and-after testing, reproducible runs | KPI audit, cascade maps, suppression rules in DCS import format, PID parameters |
| Control logic | Control narratives, I/O lists, alarm documentation and your coding standards | Every routine read; configured versus documented compared line by line | Ranked findings with fixes, standardized libraries, narratives rebuilt from the code |
| Cause and effect | The cause-and-effect matrix and design intent | Mathematical checks of every interlock; scan-by-scan execution; equivalence proofs | Conflicts in plain language: masked causes, redundant cells, overridable trips |
| Safety instrumented systems | IEC 61511 lifecycle, safety requirements and the C&E | SIS logic checked against requirements; voting reviewed for common-cause failure | Findings tied to the requirement they break, bypass and override review |
| Documentation and field | What is actually installed and running | Documents generated from the code and tag register, then loop-checked in the field | Narratives, C&E matrices and loop folders that match the plant; commissioning support |
Standards, clause by clause
Every finding cites the clause it answers to, so your reviewers can check the reasoning against the standard itself.
- ISA-18.2-2016
- Alarm system lifecycle, KPIs and targets, rationalization, MOC and audit.
- IEC 62682:2022
- The international alarm management standard, harmonised with ISA-18.2.
- EEMUA 191 (2024)
- Alarm system performance grading and human-factors guidance, 4th edition.
- API RP 1167
- Pipeline SCADA alarm management under 49 CFR 192 and 195.
- IEC 61511 / ISA-84
- Safety instrumented systems for the process industries.
- IEC 61508
- Functional safety of electrical and programmable safety-related systems.
- IEC 61131-3
- PLC programming languages: ladder, function block and Structured Text.
- OSHA PSM
- Deliverables structured as evidence for 29 CFR 1910.119 process safety management.
What the published papers don’t tell you
Research in alarm management, control and functional safety is published faster than anyone checks it. A method that looks decisive in a paper often depends on a clean dataset, a tuned threshold or an assumption stated in a footnote.
We take published methods, re-run them on real plant data with the same discipline we apply to client work, and publish the result: whether it reproduces, what it assumes, and where it breaks.
Built by people who commission plants
FoxIQ’s engineering comes from the field: commissioning instrumentation, control and safety instrumented systems on offshore and onshore oil and gas projects, writing corporate control standards for Rockwell platforms, and research on common cause failure in redundant safety voting systems.
That is why every deliverable is something an engineer can act on: a change package for MOC, a ranked finding with its fix, a narrative that matches the code, a loop folder that matches the installation.
When the work moves from analysis to hardware, Red Fox Automation, our field services arm, handles integration, panel fabrication and commissioning. One team, from the first export to the loop check.