Alarm GAP Analysis

An independent waste management company recognised that their Alarm System Management was not performing effectively and required support from Wilde to review their current set-up, to recommend an improvement plan and support them in implementing the plan

A gap analysis, based on EEMUA 191 was carried out to evaluate and develop a plan for improvement on an alarm system that was failing to meet the operators’ requirements.

One of the underlying issues was that there was no single alarm system.Whilst the SCADA in the main control room was seen as the main interface on the plant, there were many other systems in different locations that generated alarms.One of the issues was that these were not supervised continuously, so there could not be an immediate response.However, even on the SCADA, the alarms had not been configured in an effective way so that they failed to support operators.

It was clear that significant improvements were required and it was recommended that this is achieved as an organised project.Key activities included:

• Developing and agreeing a definition of alarm;
• Assigning responsibilities;
• Identifying system requirements to handle alarms; and confirming the existing SCADA has the capabilities or investing in a new system to perform some or all of the requirements;
• Generating a complete alarm database covering all systems across the site;
• Carrying out an alarm rationalisation so that only those that fulfil the agreed definition are retained.Other alarms may be reclassified as alerts, events or status information;
• Assign alarm priorities including any that are ‘safety related’ according to the EEMUA definition;
• Considering whether conditional alarms based on equipment status is appropriate.It is recommended that use of more sophisticated logical process is considered at a later date;
• Updating the alarm database and populating it with enhanced levels of information;
• Developing methods of monitoring performance;
• Making arrangements to manage future changes and new projects so that the improved alarm system can maintain its performance.