Effective Alarm Management

Reduced alarm overload + improved situational awareness = focused operators.

A closer look at
alarm management.

Alarm management Unscheduled downtime accounts for

is one of the most undervalued $20 Billion lost annually. 40% of these
aspects of industrial operations are linked to preventable human errors

Factors responsible for human errors:

01 Nuisance alarms
that mask critical alarms 02 Alarm floods
during plant upsets

03 Incorrect alarm
prioritization
04 Operator's inability
to respond in time

Modern control rooms on average receive more than 1,000 alarms/day.

EEMUA 191 and ISA 18.2 Standards recommend no more than 300 alarms/day.

signs of
7
ineffective alarm management

1 2 3 4
Lack of clarity Intermittent Distracting Excessive
on alarm definition alarm floods nuisance alarms consequential alarms

5 6 7
Unclear Too many Unaddressed
alarm messages high-priority alarms standing alarms

Simply creating
more alarms is not the solution
Number of alarms has increased exponentially
over the years, yet annual losses continue to grow.

8 Billion USD 10-20 Billion USD

Total loss due to U.S. petrochemical
operator error per year industry losses per year

100K-1 Million USD 80 Million USD Over 2 Billion USD

Cost of unplanned incident Average cost of major Annual automation industry
per plant per year incidents in refining Industry equipment damage

Top 7
alarm management priorities

1 2 3 4

Correctly define Consider operator Identify and eliminate Evaluate alarm system
and prioritize alarms human factors nuisance alarms performance regularly

5 6 7

Provide clear, concise and Minimize standing Use alarm shelving or

consistent alarm messages and cascading alarms state-based alarm suppression

Key components of an
efficient alarm management solution

Hardware independence and mobility Tools to identify Multi-language support –

Compatibility with any HTML5 and eliminate nuisance alarms web client – Simplified Chinese, French,
enabled device Spanish, Italian, Czech, Dutch

Ease-of-use Extensive alarm filtering Alarm analysis tool

with a customizable dashboard Quicker, efficient analysis Multiple views to identify Frequent,
Clear display of KPIs, of SCADA alarms Fleeting, Standing and
alarm priority distribution Consequential alarms

Benefits of better
alarm identification and management

Operator response Unplanned downtime

time improves risks decline

Cost of equipment damage Plant performance

and maintenance goes down and reliability improves

Learn how Wonderware can help address your alarm management needs.
Alarm Adviser | Situational Awareness