ISA 18.2 - How Will It Change Your Approach?
The anticipated release of the ISA 18.2 – Management of Alarm Systems for
the Process Industries – is finally here. The question now remains: how will
this standard change industry’s approach to Alarm Management?
Over the past two years, most companies have been moving forward in their
initiatives to improve alarm management at their facilities. The newly released
ISA 18.2 will now enable you to validate your effort to date and determine what
work is still required to meet best practices. It provides a structure for
implementing an alarm management system and identifying areas for improvement.
The standard can also help justify the benefits and criticality of alarm management
projects.
Every process industry organization should review the recommendations. For those
proactive organizations have an alarm management program in place, the ISA document
will not necessitate a complete rework of their program, but can be used to enhance
and improve what is already in place.
The ISA 18.2 standard is not the solution to the alarm issue. Industry still needs
to take steps to improve the operator environment and the alarms that occur. The ISA
18.2 standard does however provide the foundation for succeeding and moving towards
properly engineered alarms.
What's next for you?
Contact one of our alarm management specialists to see how your current
alarm management strategy fits ISA 18.2 or
click here
to create your own
customized Alarm Philosophy Document, the first step to a compliant alarm
management strategy.