The Top Alarm metrics that mean anything

Accidents in the past have demonstrated what can happen when an alarm system and operator response fail as a layer of protection in a hazardous process. The operators response to alarms is crucial in preventing a process upset from escalating into a more serious event. These accidents also provided the motivation for the new ISA-18.2 standard Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries, which provides a framework for the successful design, implementation, operation and management of alarm systems in a process plant. It offers guidance on how alarm management can be used to help a plant operate more safely. ISA-18.2 can also be used to bring together the disciplines of alarm management and safety system design, which must work more closely to prevent future accidents. While this and EEMUA standards deal with design of alarm systems they do not deal much with maintenance of systems. Quite often MOC (Management of Change) procedures are used to ensure changes to the alarm system are documented and managed. Besides the normal KPIs I see some KPIs as necessary to evaluate in real time the Alarm system.

Alarm Rate
Alarm rate tells the operator load to respond to alarms. Since an Alarm NEEDs a operator action this can tell if an operator has to do too much work normally and this can be dangerous in alarm flood conditions. 150/day Alarms can be considered as acceptable, whereas 300 Alarms/day can be manageable but is too high and needs investigation. While Averages can be misleading, in combination with some of the following metrics can tell about the operator loading.

Top 10 most frequently occurring alarms

A relatively few alarms produce a large percentages of the alarms. These can point to a underlying problem like a Bad instrument or worst Bad control problem. The underlying problem needs to get addressed so that this alarm can be stopped and would not fill the alarm log. If this is not done this can lead to two very bad consequences, a) operators will suppress this alarm, b) operators will IGNORE this alarm. If the alarm rationalization has been done, this alarm has a purpose and we are not using it effectively.

Alarm Floods
Alarm flood is defined as a Alarm rate higher than what an operator can handle. This means that alarms will get ignored. An alarm flood can be defined as an alarm rate > 10 alarms in 10 minutes. In reality this may be too stringent a metric. Also important is how long this flood lasted, and the number of times /day, /week this flood existed. An analysis over a time period should include a. b. c. d. Number of floods Total Alarms in flood Average annunciated rate Total duration of flood

State based alarm implementation can reduce Alarm floods.

Number of long standing/Stale alarms

Alarms that have been on the Alarm log for a substantial time e.g. greater than 24 hours are called stale alarms. In many cases this time period may be weeks/months. These can clutter the alarm log and mask more important alarms as they come in.

Number of suppressed alarms

Alarm suppression is a important function that can help the operator retain his/her sanity. When the alarm system is driving them nuts, alarm suppression can help them remove the annunciation of the alarm that has gone bad. Alarm shelving tools ensure that alarm suppression is properly authorized, and is only for a period of time after which the alarm is re-enabled. Getting to know the number of suppressed alarms will point to inherent problems with the alarm system.

Chattering Alarms
Chattering alarms come and go out of the alarm trip setting. When these are annunciated these can be a nuisance to the operator. Chattering alarms may be a result of poor control, bad instrumentation, improper dead band or time delay setting in the alarm system.