Enhance Alarm Management with Early Event Detection
The dynamics inside a typical control room have undergone a distinctive evolution
over the last 25 years, and although the importance and function has not diminished,
the way control rooms operate has changed significantly.
Today, there is typically a central control room that oversees multiple areas, forcing
the operator to handle an increased load and exponentially more alarms. Many of the
alarms operators are forced to deal with are not configured correctly. With the sheer
volume, critical events are being missed and plants face reduced production capacity
due to increased downtime.
This evolution has created a need for the operator to use an integrated system to
visualize what is happening across the different parts of the plant. Operators leverage
technology to connect all of their systems for a more complete and comprehensive view
of operations, but by doing so, it becomes difficult to determine what areas have the
highest priority or require immediate attention.
The value of early event detection
An early event detection system, if implemented correctly, can provide immediate value.
By finding correlations between recurring conditions that trigger a destructive event
such as a shutdown, equipment failure, or perpetuate an unsafe situation, an early event
detection system can provide operators with advance warning so that they can avoid the
situation altogether. This provides several benefits:
- reduced maintenance costs by avoiding unplanned maintenance
- increased production by minimizing downtime
- increased profitability by improving productivity
Components of an early event detection system
The effect on alarm management
An effective alarm management system offers many benefits to a plant, including:
- ability to improve facility safety
- ability to prioritize issues that are affecting productivity
- being an integral component of early event detection systems.
Recently, there has been heavy emphasis placed on the number of alarms that operators
see on a daily basis, and how this hinders their ability to be effective. The argument
is that there is a limit to the number of alarms an operator can handle at any one time,
and that we must reduce the total number of alarms that an operator has to deal with.
While these benchmarks provide a good understanding of how many alarms operators can handle,
the basic purpose of alarms needs to be kept in mind. Alarms are meant to alert operators
when there is an abnormal situation on the plant floor that is preventing optimal performance,
whether that is from a safety or productivity perspective. A key alarm management priority is
to ensure that alarms are being created in such a way that an operator receives the right alarm
at the right time.
Getting the right alarm at the right time
Establishing an alarm philosophy can reduce the number of alarms an operator faces by bringing
focus to your alarm management strategy. An alarm philosophy will help you create and adhere to
rules for improving and managing the effectiveness of your alarm systems.
An alarm rationalization can also help ensure that operators get the information they need to keep
the plant running efficiently and safely. A periodic and continuous rationalization of the alarms
in your plant ensures that you are able to identify the relevance and criticality of each alarm.
Integrating early event detection into the alarm management process provides operators with another
avenue for reducing alarms. If an event detection system can analyze a set of conditions that always
cause the same alarm to be generated, a workflow can be automated to react to this set of events,
avoiding generation of a distracting alarm.