Advanced Alarm ManagementAdvanced Alarm Management System at Hawiyah Gas Plant

Yousef H Al-MubarakYousef H. Al-MubarakPCS Engineerg

Outline

D fi iti• Definitions• Background• Alarm Philosophy• Alarm rationalization• Alarm rationalization • AAM System• Potential benefits • Conclusion• Conclusion

Definitions

• Alarm:It is an event informing the operator of developing process upset via signalsIt is an event informing the operator of developing process upset via signals

which are annunciated to the operator typically by an audible sound, some from of visual indication, and by the presentation of a message or

th id tifisome other identifier.

Wh t AAM d ?What AAM does?

• Provides tools to collect and analyze Alarms & Events, identify and analyze alarm related issues.analyze alarm related issues.

• Maintain Master database for Alarms.

• Provide tools to minimize unnecessary alarms as required. Operator canProvide tools to minimize unnecessary alarms as required. Operator can suppress unnecessary alarms based on Operating conditions.

Definitions

• Alarm rationalization: It is a systematic process of optimizing the alarm d t b f th f d ffi i t ti f th f ilit Thidatabase for the safe and efficient operation of the facility. This process normally results a reduction in the total number of alarms, changes in the prioritization of alarms, validation of alarm parameters, evaluation of alarm organization and presentation, and evaluation of alarm functionality.

Automation• The number of responsible control loops per board operator were

drastically increased according to the advance in technology.y g gyop

s Responsible control loops per operator 500 or more

Near Future1950- 1960- 1970- 1975-of c

ontr

ol lo

o/o

pera

tor

Time20 loops 50 loops 100 loops200 loops

Near Future1950 1960 1970 1975

# o

???Distributed

Control SystemSmall-size Pneumatic

InstrumentsSmall-size Electric

InstrumentsDirect Digital Control

ComputerDistributed Control

System

Operator Detection and Response to an AlarmAlarm

VerificationIdentificationDetection

A tAssessment Acknowledgement

MonitorCorrective action

Monitor

Why Alarm System Improvementy y p

• Analysis of several Plant Incidents revealed that f f l i f hpoor performance of Alarm system is one of the

major contributory factors

• Incidents due to ‘missed alarm’ are random and di t blunpredictable

• Majority of these Incidents could be minimizedMajority of these Incidents could be minimized, if Operators can “ See Clearly” only the relevant alarmsalarms.

P t ti l I t f I iti ti E tImpact of Protection SystemsImpact of Protection Systems• Potential Impact of Initiating Event

Incident

Critical Alarm & Response

Emergency Response System & Procedures Trip

LossCritical Alarm & Response

High Priority Alarm & ResponseProfit

Low Priority Alarm & Response

Time

Background g• HGP & P&CSD developed Alarm philosophy document.

Assumptions

• The operator will respond to all alarms, regardless of priority

• Alarm priorities define the order of the operator’s response when many• Alarm priorities define the order of the operator s response when many alarms occur simultaneously

• The alarm management system is routinely maintained

• Alarm management includes all the DCS alarms coming to an operator, including system alarms.

Alarm Philosophy Document• Alarm Definition• Alarm Design Principles

l i i i id li• Alarm Priority assignment guidelines• Alarm System Performance Indicators (KPI)• Alarm Presentation• Alarm Presentation• Management of Change• Operator rolesOperator roles• Alarm Audit• Operator Trainingp g

Alarm Rationalization PlanPhase1• Assign & educate teams membersAssign & educate teams members • Rationalization per area

Phase2• Review Rationalization progress• Interim Report

Phase3• Alarm system performance Before and After Rationalization

A l f th I t i d• Analyze further Improvement required• Final report and Recommendations

Preparationp

• Alarm Philosophy

• P&ID

• Hazop Study Recommendations

• Existing Alarm Settings/ Alarm Advisory data from AAM

TeamCore Team Members

• Alarm Management System Champion• Alarm Management System Champion

• Area Board Operators

• Area Process Engineer• Area Process Engineer

Part Time (as required)

• Field Operator• Field Operator

• Maintenance (PCS Team)

• Safety• Safety

Guidelines Alarm Rate ( Unstable State)( )

Number of alarms in 10 minutes

Acceptability

More than 100 Definitely excessive and very likely to lead to the operator abandoning use of the system

20 - 100 Hard to cope with

Under 10 Should be manageable – but may be difficult if l f h l i l several of the alarms require a complex operator

response

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)Targety ( ) gKey Performance Target per ConsoleIndicator (KPI)

Average Process Alarms < 288 Alarm / Day

Chattering Alarms (> 5 / minute) 0 per day

Stale alarms (> 1 day old) 0 per day

Alarm Priority y• Alarm Priority Percentage of Total Alarms

HIGH 3-7%HIGH 3 7%

MEDIUM 15-25%

LOW 70-80 %LOW 70 80 %

AAM Reportsp• Daily Alarm Rate

• Alarm Priority distribution• Alarm Priority distribution

• Chattering Alarms

• Standing Alarms• Standing Alarms

• Suppressed Alarms

• Alarm flood• Alarm flood

• Operation Statistics

Frequent Alarm

Daily Alarm Ratey

KPI data – Oct 08

Potential Benefits

• Identify Bad Actor among alarms from Statistical reports so that only relevant alarms are presented to the Operators

• Enable Operator to see clearly and take corrective actions thereby minimizing incidents

• Audit tool to capture Operational issues on controllers and continuously improve Operation

• Provide Master database for Alarms

Alarm Management, Vigilant wayg , g y

Questions?Questions?