Alarms structured management systems

ALARMSSTRUCTURED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Enrico QUERCI

April 12, 2017

IntroductionPreliminary

Goal of Alarm Management

Alarm Management Implementation

Definition of Alarm

Day Agenda

Rationalisation of AlarmsManagement procedures

Alarms recipients

Mobility diffusiontools

Application domainsAnswers and Questions

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Introduction

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Preliminary


Beyond easy alarmism or doomsday scenarios, some examples of a not optimal alarmsmanagement may be useful: 1976: Seveso 1979: Three Mile Island 1984: Bhopal 1987: Herald of Free Enterprise 1994: Milford Haven 1996: Channel Tunnel

It is firstly necessary to establish the general philosophy of alarms monitoringand control: Choice between automatic or manual

control Choice which parts to automate and why Consider that alarms are linked to many

aspects due to important human factors Consider a larger control spectrum,

environmental and about interfacing –see EEMUA Publication 201


Preliminary

Preliminary


A correct Alarm Management procedure presupposes: The preliminary analysis of

site operation The preliminary analysis of

alarms informations to use The preliminary analysis of

existing organisationalstructure of available staff and of maintenance staff

The structured organisation (or modifications to existingorganisation) of available staff and maintenance staff

The structured organisation of informations flux from the installation to the staff to be recipient of informations• Alarms per hour rate• Used media

Adherence to internationalstandards (EEMUA-191, IEC 62682 and/or ISA Working Groups)

Preliminary

The EEMUA 191 standard is known as the “industry best practice” for alarms management.It does not specify the requested performances for any specific case of a given alarms management system, which would be a reasonableexpectation following the particular situation of each installation.Most users identified, as a reference point for operators, the rule ‘an alarmper ten minutes as an average, ten alarms in ten minutes during a massive alarm session in the installation’ as universally acceptable.In any case, the practice suggests that, in some cases, expectations pose a challenge, not ever faceable with Technologies available today.


PreliminaryThe IEC 62682 standard rules all the lifecycle phases(developement, design, installation and operation) for the alarmsmanagement in Process Industry.It defines terminology and workflow processes recommended to efficacely maintain an alarm System along all its lifecycle.It was written as an extension of 2009 ISA 18.2 standard considering other guide documents developed at industrial level.Ineffective alarm Systems have often been cited as determinant factors in diagnostic reports for major process defaults.This standard has been thought to provide a methodology to obtain more safety in Process Industry.


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The Alarm Management concerns not only the optimisation of the number of alarms sent to operators, but above all the way the staff responds to alarms

The Alarm Management goal is also to provide operators with a consistent and reliable action event notification interface that supports their efforts to safely and efficiently operate the process

Alarm Management is applicable not only to continuous processes with Distributed Control Systems (“DCS”)

Alarm Management is applicable also to low and/or medium size installations, whose reliability is based on human response to alarms, for example stocking sites

«Calls for human-centred» design


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• The Alarm Management implementation is made through 3 steps (CCA principle): Causes of each alarm Operating Consequences of each alarm Actions to take to avoid (or minimize) consequences, and solve the alarm

cause

• For each parameter generating alarms, document CCA as an help for agents of Operation and Maintenance.

• CCA documents must be available from each operator station• If an anomaly has no consequence, or needs no operators’

actions, there is no need to generate its alarms



Alarm Management must allow the resolution of defaults causes

in the easiest and fastest possible way So, an effective Alarm Management System has to be

designed, implemented and maintained to providethe intervention staff with

all necessary elements to operatecorrectly and rapidly.


1. Assuring usability of the Alarm Management System

2. Identifying Safety aspects

3. Contantly and regularly monitoring the System performances

4. Reducing the so-called “overall cost of ownership” through the engineering initial process



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Philosophy: documenting goals, guidelines and operation processes of the Alarm Management System

Identification: determining potential alarms

Rationalisation: process determining which alarms are really necessary, establishing their parameters (alarmcondition, priority, classification, …) and documenting them(cause, consequency, correction actions, response times, …) in a Master Alarm Database.

Detailed Design: system designing following the requirements defined for Rationalisation and Philosophy. Including base and advanced designing of alarms and HMI.

Implementation: the Alarm Management System is made operational (installation and commissioning, initial testsand initial users training).

Operation: the Alarm Management System is operational. Operators are using the tools for the diagnostic and to respond to alarms.

Alarm Management implementation

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Maintenance: alarms are set «out of service» duringperiods of maintenance, components substitution and installations periodical test.

Monitoring and «Assesment»: performances of an Alarm Management System are compared with KPIsproduced during the design phase. Problematicalalarms are clearly identified ( transitory alarms, frequent alarms).

Management of Change: it is the authorising processto make add, modification and suppression of alarms.

Audit: periodically, an audit of alarm management processes is made (for example comparing alarmsparametrisation on the DCSes with the Master Alarm Database).

Alarm Management implementation

Defining first of all what we mean with “alarm”.An alarm is a visual and/or acustic signalisation to operators of a default (i.e. a component fault),

of a deviation from normal process operation (i.e. temperature out of range),

or of an abnormal condition (i.e. intrusion into a reserved area),

requesting a reaction as a correcting action.

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Alarm definition

An alarm is visual and/or acoustic signalisation …Alarms are to be notified.

… to operators …Notification is to be addressed to operators to be identified as an alarm.It must not provide informations to engineers, nor to maintenance technicians nor to managers. What we normally mean with “alarm threshold” can be a parameter configured to generate control actions or data trace, without being a real alarm.


Alarm definition

… of an equipement default, a process deviation or an abnormal condition …Alarms must inform about problems, not about a process normal condition (i.e. stopped pump, closed valve, …).

… requesting a reaction as a correcting action.A well defined response must come from operators to correct the alarm situation and restore a desired state of the process (safe and/or productive).If operators must not respond to the signalisation, it must not be considered an alarm.


Alarm definition

Rationalisation of Alarm Management procedures

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Which are the base characteristics of a correctly manageable alarm? Relevance: an alarm must not be transitory and must have a really operational goal

Unique: alarms must not be duplicates, nor redundant

Correct times management: an alarm must not require an eccessive reaction time nor must be sent too late to be solved

Correct priority: the priority of each alarm must correspond to its real importance

Comprehensibility: the alarm message must be clear and easily comprehesible

Diagnosis: each alarm must clearly identify the corresponding default

Advisory: the alarm message must clearly indicate the actions to perform to solve the alarm causes

Focused: the alarm messages must focus the attention only on the really important: they must provide no unuseful and/or misleading information

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Alarms characteristics

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Typical alarm situations

Manageable alarms number

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Maximum # Alarms per Hr

Ave

rage

# A

larm

s per

Hr 1 -Overloaded

2 - Reactive

3 - Stable4 - Robust

5 - Predictive

600060060

600

60

6 X

ImpossibleImpossible

Alarms recipientsWe saw that messages must be notified to operators to be identified as alarms.Each alarm message must be properly classified, and sent only to recipients operators.That’s to avoid roles overlapping or confusion in alarm management, with consequent not optimal use of Company operating resources.Solutions used for alarm management must allow, in a simply, fast and intuitive way:

the correct classification of each alarm

the consequent diffusion to correct recipient operators the possibility for operators to exploit informations wherever they operate

the possibility to implement escalation mechanisms

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Mobility diffusion tools

Particurarly, the need to exploit informations concerning alarms also in mobility is more and more expressed by operators.This allows to receive messages and to manage alarms also without necessarily constantly guard installations.

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Mobility diffusion tools

Both Technologies historically present in industrial or civil domains (SMS, email, …) and more recent, performant and reliable Technologies may be used to diffuse and consequently manage alarms.


Mobility diffusion toolsA particular important feature is the possibility to manage alarms concerning Safety of operators working in hazardous environments.It must be possible sending alarms explicitily on demand (voluntary alarms), or automatically on event (immobility, verticality, maximum work time, …).


Application domains

Alarms can be managed in a structured and standardized way in any application domain.Alarm Management is an almost vertical procedure.The Alarm Management general principle is applicable, with specific adaptations, to any situation and process.

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Questions & Answers

Thank you for you attention.We are at your disposal for any question you may have.You may concat us by email at

[email protected] by phone:

+39 348 025 7900

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mailto:[email protected]

Alarms structured management systems

Engineering

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