Topic: Alarm & Annunciation

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Turn On the Right Alarm
Designing an Alarm and Monitoring System or an Operating System Are in No Way the Same Thing

Turn Off That Alarm!
For Any Automated Equipment, Alarms Are Rarely a Good Thing. For a System Designer, an Alarm Is Simply the Easy Way Out

Rage Against the Portability Machine
Although Vendors Talk About Portability, Most of Them Do Not Want to Become a WordPerfect

Scared of Alarms?
When It Comes to Industrial Environments, the Key to Conquering Alarms Is to Remain Calm, Follow Safety Procedures and Solve Problems Quickly

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White Papers: In Depth Research

A Fresh Look at Alarm Performance Metrics
Author: Tips Incorporated
Posted: 10/22/2010
This paper shows how using a good mix of all types of alarm performance metrics builds a better foundation from which to evaluate the performance of alarm systems.

Alarm Management Blunders: Avoiding 12 Costly Mistakes
Author: Matrikon
Posted: 10/22/2010
Sam Levenson said, "You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." When it comes to alarm management, Levenson is correct. Ineffective alarm systems pose a serious risk to safety, the environment, and plant profitability. Too often, alarm system effectiveness is unknowingly undermined by poorly configured alarms. Static alarm settings can't adapt to dynamic plant conditions and many other nuisances result in alarm floods that overwhelm operators just when they most need concise direction.

Operators and engineers in the process control industry have become increasingly aware of the value that alarm management solutions offer. Alarm systems are the primary tool for identifying abnormal situations and helping plant personnel take timely, appropriate action to move the process back to operational targets.

As alarm management solutions become more common, our understanding of the factors that impede their success has grown. If you're thinking of undertaking an alarm management solution, or if you have already started one, the following information based on lessons learned, can help drive your project to success.

Alarm Trips: The Ups and Downs
Author: Moore Industries
Posted: 10/22/2010
This White Paper features extensive information on various types of alarm trips, their effective applications and safety factors, and addresses other considerations that need to be made when implementing an alarm trip strategy.

The Top 10 Worst Performing Alarm Systems in the Industry
Author: PAS
Posted: 10/22/2010
Since 1994, PAS has benchmarked hundreds of alarm systems in various industrial markets around the world. From our project databases, this paper presents examples of the worst, most overloaded alarm systems encountered. In addition, the possible solutions to these problems are discussed.

Alarm Management is the current "hot topic" in the process industries. Overloaded and poorly performing DCS alarm systems are common and have been identified as contributing factors in several major accidents including those at BP Texas City in 2005 and Texaco Pembroke refinery in the UK in 1994.

To improve an alarm system, it is essential to perform an initial benchmark. Benchmarking a system has many benefits. It provides a basis to compare a system against industry best practices as well as a reference point to measure improvements at the end of an alarm management project. Other benefits include creating solid data driven analysis to communicate the state of the alarm system to appropriate stakeholders at a site, and justify further investment in alarm system improvement. Finally, a significant benefit in a benchmark study is the identification of bad acting alarms. As a standard practice, PAS identifies bad acting alarms in the initial benchmark report. Our experience indicates that breakthrough gains can be realized simply by resolving the bad acting alarms.

There are several different alarm problems to examine, with differing solutions. In performing these analyses, some amazing phenomena have been documented, presented here as examples of how bad things can get.

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