The paper describes a hardwired solution and compares it with the approach based on a current trend in automation, namely, communication control over the Ethernet or via the CIP-Safety protocol, in which all the machines involved can communicate very effectively. The Ethernet can be used to transfer safety information even for the highest safety integrity level, and it also points out that network is not a critical factor in designing safety functions. Further, the paper contains calculation of failure probability per hour for the communicated data, which can be taken into account when users design distributed safety functions. Such a procedure is capable of satisfying not only the hardware reliability requirements but also the demands of end users, who seek to achieve a productivity rate as high as possible.