Process Alarms Management in Large Scale Refining and Petrochemical Project: A Case Study of Alarms Management in Initial Operations Phase

Introduction of Process Alarms Management 

Alarm is defined as an audible and/or visible means of indicating to the operator an equipment malfunction, process deviation, or abnormal condition requiring a timely response. An essential element of this definition is the response to the alarm.

Response to process alarms is an independent layer for protection in LOPA / SIL studies. In spite of detailed analysis of justification of process alarms in the design stages of project through LOPA / SIL studies but process alarms flooding makes it hard to practically get benefit of alarms. Consequently the layer is defeated for its operational benefit and risk to the process is increased.

Given the fact, initial phase of operations, right after commissioning of project, for major Petrochemical plants has been observed to be very critical and challenging for Alarms Management with multiple reasons of Bad Actors contributing to Flooding of alarms. This paper presents some of those challenges of process alarms flooding faced in initial phase of operations in a large scale petrochemical complex and application of various Alarms management techniques to overcome those concerns to normalize alarms flooding. This paper provides key steps and recommends actions to manage alarms flooding across petrochemical process plants.

Process Alarms Management Implementation:

A multi-disciplinary team approach was adopted to manage high number of process alarms. The achievement of milestones was only possible due to following result oriented aspects;

1. Organizational Aspects

• Alarms Management as an element of Risk Based Process Safety
• Top Management involvement
• Defining alarms management KPIs
• Frequent Alarms Progress Reports with focus on alarms KPIs and action plans
• Resources allocation and effective management of resources
• Motivated teams working in harmony
• Shift wise Alarms analysis sheets
• Healthy competition amongst teams with champion announced everymonth
• Planning and Maintenance management and support
• Shift Champions for Alarms Rationalization
• Hands on training of team
• First things first philosophy 

2. Technical Aspects

• PHA technique devised for Alarms Set point changes for effective and efficient results
• Defining Alarms Groups and Priorities
• Bad Actors filtration using software
• Application of alarms suppression principles
• Phased approach
• Categorization of problem
• Design reviews for process envelopes
• Well informed use of alarms shelving

Advantages of Process Alarms Management

1. Alarms management resulted in better control of operational parameters.
2. Margin for improvement in productivity and efficiency was realized.
3. Alarms Committees helped in troubleshooting of various process plant problems as a result of effective team work.
4. Credit for IPL of ‘response to process alarms’ was justified after bringing number of alarms within acceptable limits. Number of alarms per hour per operating position was reduced from 131 to 9.
5. Alarms philosophy based on international standards helped in providing guiding principles for alarm committees.
6. Committees approach helped in improving overall organizational hands on expertise on alarms management.
7. Design gaps for process alarms were identified and corrected through MOC. 

 Key Recommendations / Learning for Effective Process Alarms Management

• Process Alarms act as a critical layer of protection in process plants and should be well managed to avoid any process safety events.
• Credits taken for response to alarms can only be justified with well designed alarms system and number of alarms per hour per operating position in a manageable range.
• Top management commitment is a mandatory requirement to achieve results.
• Achieving sustainable results in a timely manner can be possible with multidisciplinary alarms committees and alarms champions from operational staff. 
• More focused approach by including Alarms Management as an element of RBPS / HSEMS.
• Alarms committees are effective tool to review process envelopes and make process more efficient and productive. 
• Development of an alarms philosophy for the organization guides alarms committees.
• KPIs for alarms management should be defined and monitored on a suitable frequency.