We talk to quite a few people who are getting into their second round of alarm management. Unfortunately, "Round Two" is too much like Round One - the alarms that were supposedly fixed have found a way to become problems again.

However frustrating, this situation plays out again and again, wasting time and money and harming the reputation of "alarm management" in the process. The reason is because a Round Two was never expected to be necessary at all.

Many people are drawn to the possibility of corrected alarm settings as the magic bullet for alarm problems. The expectation is to take bad settings, send them to reform school, and when they come back, all is well with plant alarms.

A correctly configured alarm system will still perform poorly if housekeeping issues are not addressed, such as bad sensor data or backlogged maintenance.

A correctly configured alarm system will degrade over time if other, important operating information is not available via a resource more effective than alarms.

Smarter investment in alarm management - that saves time and money - is within reach to those who understand the external factors that impact alarm behavior and design. To avoid a round one that leads nowhere, make sure the project team understands the field conditions that can impact alarms AND the information needs that must be satisfied but are not appropriate for the alarm system.

The fight against poor alarm performance is never over, but it does get much easier over time. Don't spend time and money correctly designing an alarm system without putting a program in place to manage the fringe issues that affect performance over time.

Chris Wilson
Marketing Manager
TiPS, Inc.
www.tipsweb.com