Proficy Workflow - Alarm Response Management

Too many Alarms ? At best, too many alarms can be a nuisance and deter productivity. But uncommon alarms requiring the correct emergency response can be dangerous, and even detrimental to your organisation and customers. Alarm Response Management software, which layers easily on top of existing HMI/SCADA systems, enables companies to take action on alarms by guiding operators through the proper steps to ensure the right response.

As operators are inundated with more alarms and warnings than ever before, ensuring the correct response to the small subset of alarms that signal critical issues is key to helping companies reduce liability exposure and costs. While traditional systems may enable operators to acknowledge alarms, they do not help prioritise and resolve issues, which can lead to improper actions on critical alarms.

With Alarm Response Management solutions, part of GE Intelligent Plantforms "More For Less" new release of solutions, companies can guide operators with specific instructions and precise information that ensure the right response to issues, decrease errors, and automatically generate reports to measure response results.  These solutions can also integrate with existing SCADA infrastructures for significant cost savings, ease of use, and fast time to solution - helping operators deliver consistently effective and timely response while enabling companies to improve productivity, safety, and profitability for a sustainable advantage.

The Evolution of Alarm Management: Originally, alarms were wired directly to pilot lights located on the equipment.  Facilities started to centrally locate these alarms on large annunciator panels to make it easier for operators to view alarms in one location. Alarm management received its first breakthrough with the introduction of computerised HMI in the 1960s, allowing centralised storage of alarms on a computer. The launch of Microsoft Windows-based HMI/SCADA in the 1980s allowed alarms to be tracked and acknowledged by operators on computer workstations. As systems became less costly and easier to implement, operators have become inundated with thousands of alarms.

Measure the response:  In order to improve any task, companies first have to measure their current performance. When the goal is to improve alarm response, it is critical to measure the response to each individual alarm while also comparing responses to multiple alarms. A critical statistic is Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), which allows companies to quickly assess how long the corrective action took. By filtering MTTR by location within the facility or by operator responding, we can quickly identify trends.

• Why is one operator so much faster than the rest?
• Are they aware of a corrective action that should be incorporated into the standard response instructions?

Another metric, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), allows companies to look at how often an alarm is occurring. If an alarm occurs too often, this probably signals another deficiency in the system that should be addressed to keep the alarm from occurring at all.

Alarm Response Management utilises technology called workflow, which has been used for business systems for a long time.  Most people are familiar with workflows used at airport kiosks or on ATM machines, whereby these systems allow users to make decisions when an expert is not available to assist or consult. Using proven workflow technology, providers like GE Intelligent Platforms offers an Alarm Response Management solution that allows SCADA users to provide operators with specific instructions and the precise information they need to make the correct decisions in critical situations. GE’s Alarm Response Management can leverage an existing SCADA infrastructure, minimising the investment required. By utilising existing operator stations and existing networks, companies can provide alarm response instructions to operators by adding a single server on the network and a small one-time investment by the facility’s expert on responding to the critical alarms. With advanced capabilities, they can move beyond acknowledging alarms to taking the right action on alarms for improved operations.

Top 5 Times You Wish You Had Alarm Response Management

• The regulatory agency arrives to audit your operations.
• An operator was injured because action was not taken to correct an alarm.
• You have a huge storm - and your Wastewater Treatment Plant has to follow Emergency Response Procedures.
• Your best operator missed a critical alarm due to too many alarms - and your boss wants to know why you needed a shutdown.
• Your quality sample was out of spec - and you didn’t find out until 8 hours later