ALARM MANAGEMENT

Corporate Alarm Management System

What is ALARM MANAGEMENT

The Tactise Alarm Management System project is

A systematic approach to the distribution (assignment) of signals to certain process parameters, their monitoring and control in order to ensure safe and reliable production.

The project has significantly raised awareness among process operators and given them the ability to prevent unscheduled shutdowns, damage to equipment and breaches of production safety.

Without a system of alarm management, high-cost predictive electronics systems are incapable of achieving their full potential, since the number of simultaneous alarms in modern production facilities results in operators ignoring them and erroneously prioritising responses.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE ABSENCE OF AN ALARM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

INFORMATION FATIGUE

Up to 200 new alarms every hour. And this is not the limit. These are the realities of working in a modern enterprise. It's clearly impossible to respond to them all and any attempt to do so would lead to exhaustion, divided attention, reduced levels of responsibility and, as a result, increased risk, increased stoppages, accidents and even human casualties.

NO TIME TO ACT

While it takes a lot of time and effort to respond to alarms, there's often no time left for personnel to make decisions and take specific actions. The measures taken are frequently temporary. They're almost never systematic or part of an overall industrial strategy, if such exists.

ACCUSTOMED TO DANGER

Most accidents occur due to ignoring danger signals. If there's a constantly flashing red light, then over time personnel stop paying attention to it. It's like the story of the boy who shouted: "Wolf!" However, when there's a real and justified hazard, no one believes it and the consequences can be very dangerous. How many lives and resources could be saved if personnel had time to respond to alarms properly?

INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES OF A LACK OF ALARM MANAGEMENT

1979
The explosion of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (USA)

DAMAGE: $ 975 million
CAUSE: Operator error due to information overload

1984
Bhopal Chemical Plant Explosion (India)

DAMAGE: 18,000 fatalities, $ 12 billion required to deal with the consequences.
REASON: All safeguarding systems were inoperative or ineffective. The safety devices did not reflect the real state of the tank. The safety inspector had been dismissed and the most effective protective device - the afterburning gas pipe - had been removed and not replaced for several weeks

1988
Piper Alpha Explosion (UK)

DAMAGE: 167 fatalities, $ 3.4 billion in financial losses
REASON: Unapproved operation of sub-divisions, shutdown of fire pumps due to repeated false alarm signals

1994
Explosion at the Milford Oil Refinery (UK)

CAUSE: A combination of management, equipment and control errors at the time of a plant failure

1998
Gas explosion at Esso Longford (Australia)

DAMAGE: 2 killed, 8 injured, $ 34.2 million - financial losses.
REASON: Lack of process control, absence of working procedures for actions in the event of emergency

2005
Fire and explosion in Texas at an oil refinery (USA)

DAMAGE: 15 killed, 170 injured
CAUSE: Deviation from approved procedures, problems with critical equipment, inadequate maintenance of critical safety equipment, failure to monitor alarms and level indicators in the separation columns

2005
Boonsefield Oil Storage Fire

DAMAGE: 43 people injured, losses - almost 250 thousand tons of oil
REASON: Tank overflow due to loss of level control, formation of a gas cloud, explosion