Alarm Benchmarking and Philosophy

Operator response to process and safety alarms are key components of an effective operating and safeguarding strategy.  The complexity of these systems and number of alarms has grown rapidly creating new issues that were not prevalent a couple of decades ago.  This increased level of information and demand on an operators attention can degrade response to mission and safety critical alarms.  Practices compliant with ISA 18.2 and EEMUA 191 Alarm Management standards supports the pursuit of operational excellence.  

The extensive process safety expertise our functional safety specialists at Watchmen provide are uniquely well suited to guide the implementation of these highly specialized activities.

Existing or new facility?  Consider benchmarking your Alarm Management processes and performance against industry standards and peers.  Watchmen offers a benchmarking audit to identify compliance gaps and areas for potential improvement for use in developing an alarm management strategy.  

Do not make the mistake many others do by focusing all your efforts on solving problems without first understanding the big picture, and coming up with an well laid out plan.  Our specialists at Watchmen can provide and unbiased review getting to the root of problems, saving you time and money.

For greenfield facilities looking to implement a new alarm system or existing facilities looking to evaluate and optimize their current alarm systems, establishing an Alarm Management Philosophy is necessary to optimizing alarm performance.  The philosophy establishes an approach that will guide the rest of the lifecycle activities (rationalization, prioritization, detailed design, implementation, commissioning/testing, operation and maintenance, decommissioning).  

Lean on our expertise and take advantage of our templates when developing your Alarm Management Philosophy tailored to your needs.

Alarm systems must effectively communicate abnormal conditions to maximize the operators ability to take a timely, prioritized response, preventing an unwanted condition.  Rationalization is a facilitated activity performed to assess each alarm and validate that it is meaningful and useful.  Many alarms provide little value and can be degraded to a different type of notification (i.e. log or message) or even removed.  This can have a profound reduction on the load placed on the operator.  

Prioritization is performed to support operators to prioritize their response when multiple alarms come in at or near the same time. 

There are many ways to maximize alarm effectiveness and remove "bad actors".  Watchmen lead workshops on setpoint analysis and alarm tuning ensures sufficient response time is available while avoiding alarm chatter.  Identifying opportunities for advanced alarming such as state based and dynamic alarming are used to ensure alarms and their timing are relevant.  

Pre-determining and communicating alarm responses with Operator Decision Support is another way to maximize their effectiveness.  Watchmen led workshops will identify details to be configured into the alarm system including:  alarm cause, consequence of inaction, recommended response, and response time.  

Post alarm rationalization is crucial for maintaining an effective alarm system. Our support services include:

• Management of Change (MOC) Hazard Analysis: We conduct detailed hazard analyses of proposed changes to ensure they do not introduce new risks or compromise system integrity. This proactive approach helps maintain operational safety and compliance with industry standards.
• Alarm Configuration Implementation: Our team is available to support implementation of alarm configurations updates to agreed to by the rationalization team.
• Training: We provide comprehensive training for your personnel to ensure they understand the updated alarm configurations and the rationale behind them. This training empowers your team to respond effectively to alarms, enhancing overall safety and efficiency.
• Review of Bad Actors: The rationalization process will typically address many alarm issues.  However, additional alarm issues can persist that require additional measures to address.  Identifying and addressing bad actor alarms—those that frequently cause nuisance or false alarms—is critical for maintaining an effective alarm system. We analyze alarm data to pinpoint bad actors and implement strategies to reduce their occurrence.
• Standing and Suppressed Alarms: Our specialists review standing and suppressed alarms to ensure they are appropriately managed. This includes verifying that suppressed alarms are justified and that standing alarms do not indicate unresolved issues.