Alarm Philosophy Document Components

Matrikon has ensured that industry best practices and guidelines have been used to compile the Alarm Philosophy Document.

An Alarm Philosophy Document is intended to provide a company-wide philosophy for process alarm management and establishes the basis for alarm setting methodology. This philosophy establishes the purpose for the alarm system and sets forth definitions and minimum requirements for the system.

Committed to delivering best-of-breed solutions. Matrikon is involved in setting industry best practices through its involvement in Alarm Management standards. With over 100 services professionals globally executing Alarm Management projects, the Alarm Philosophy Document reflects the experiences Matrikon has garnered from our Alarm Management expertise.

Alarm Philosophy Document Sections

1. Introduction

2. Scope

3. Definitions

4. Responsibilities

4.1. Alarm System Coordinator

4.2. Board Operator

4.3. Process Engineer

4.4. Instrumentation & Controls Engineer

5. Alarm Functional Requirements

5.1. Alarm System Purpose

5.2. General Requirements

5.3. Alarm Generation

5.3.1. Process Alarms

5.3.2. System Alarms

5.3.3. Annunciator Panel

5.3.4. Alerts

5.4. Alarm Prioritization

5.4.1. Severity Assessment

5.4.2. Response Time Assessment

5.4.3. Assigning Alarm Priority

5.4.4. Alarm Priority Distribution

5.5. Alarm Settings

5.5.1. Inhibiting

5.5.2. Alarm & Event Presentation

5.5.3. Grouping

5.5.4. DCS Guidelines

6. Alarm Change Control

6.1. Alarm Configuration Changes Requiring MOC Packages

6.2. Other Configuration Changes

6.3. Alarm Database: Auditing the Alarm Configuration

7. Alarm Performance Monitoring

7.1. Key Performance Indicators

7.2. Analysis Methodology

7.2.1. Most frequent

7.2.2. Chattering

7.2.3. Total Frequency

7.2.4. Burst Rate

7.2.5. Hours with more than 30 alarms

7.2.6. Priority distribution

7.2.7. Predictable alarms

7.2.8. Regulatory control problems

7.3. Rationalization Methodology

7.3.1. Meeting Preparation

7.3.2. Rationalization Meetings

8. Bibliography

Qualified professionals should ensure their site Alarm Philosophy Document adequately addresses the following components:

• Purpose of alarm system
• Motivation for improving the alarm system
• References
• Responsibilities for Alarm Management
• Alarm system management work process
• Operator roles related to and in response to alarms
• Alarm design principles
• Alarm presentation to the operator
• Priority assignment method
• Key alarm system performance and configuration indicators and target levels
• Alarm system maintenance
• Approved advanced Alarm Management techniques
• Required documentation
• Periodic testing of the alarm system
• Relation to procedures
• Commissioning and checkout
• Management of change
• How people are trained
• Alarm history preservation
• Recommended process for developing and maintaining the philosophy

The document excludes the following topics as they are typically covered in other documentation:

• Emergency response alarms not in the DCS or on the annunciator panel (ex: fire alarms, H2S alarms)
• SIL methodology
• HAZOP methodology