Operator Questionnaire for Comprehensive Evaluation of Plant Alarm Systems

Abstract

An alarm system is an indispensable component for the safe operation of process plants such as oil refineries, chemical plants, and power plants. Requirements for alarm management have recently intensified. For existing plants, the first step in alarm management is to evaluate the alarm system performance. However, a number of conventional methods focus on alarms only as signals requiring operator attention. That would not be enough for comprehensive evaluation. In this paper, an operator questionnaire for comprehensively evaluating plant alarm systems is proposed. The questionnaire evaluates the systems from the standpoints of eight characteristics—unique, timely, prioritized, understandable, diagnostic, advisory, and focusing of a good alarm as stated in EEMUA 191. The effectiveness of the proposed method was validated with an actual plant.