Why is Alarm Management Important to your Organisation? 

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An effective alarm should alert the operator to an abnormal situation, provide guidance on the correct action to take, and allow sufficient time to implement the remedial action. Inadequate alarm management causes increased operator stress, production inefficiencies, and unplanned downtime. It was a contributing factor in the following major incidents: Three Mile Island accident (1979), USS Vincennes tragedy (1988), Kegworth Air Disaster (1989), Buncefield Fire (2005), Texas City Refinery explosion (2005), Channel Tunnel fire (2008), Air France 447 disaster (2009), and the Deepwater Horizon explosion (2010).

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What is the Challenge?

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Typically, the operator is inundated with alarms and cannot form an accurate mental picture of the event in order to make the correct response. Nuisance alarms, alarm flooding, wrong priority alarms, redundant alarms and irrelevant alarms all contribute to operator cognitive overload. We need to manage our alarms effectively. 

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What is the Solution?

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The alarm management standards advocate a lifecycle approach as follows: create an alarm philosophy, identify the alarms, rationalise the alarms, design the system, install and commission, operate and maintain, monitor & assess performance, manage change, and decommission. 

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How can A&A help?

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A&A can provided consultancy services across the full alarm management lifecycle and provide training to ensure the competence of personnel. A good place to start is to download our free guide, Alarm Management: a Practical Guide by clicking on the button below.

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