Eddie Habibi and Bill Hollifield have written a book that I've reviewed before...and Paul Berwanger delivered a paper based on the book: Seven Steps in Creating a Highly Effective Alarm Management System authored by Habibi and Hollifield.
Critical Decision Making in a "Blink"
Is it really ESP?
Fire fighters narrowly escape death in Cleveland
Was it ESP?
Or fire captain’s unconscious thin-slicing of situation
E.R. Dr.’s, Air Traffic Controllers & Plant Operators
All monitor and analyze information
All make frequent critical, split-second decisions
All take actions to arrive at desired outcomes
Knowledge Worker per Peter F. Drucker:
one who works primarily with information, or
one who develops and uses knowledge
Process Operators are the Hidden Knowledge Workers!!!
On-the-Job duties
Monitor, gather, analyze data
Create, share and use knowledge
Make decision and take action
Responsibilities
Production rate and quality
Plant safety
Environmental, Compliance…
Abnormal Situations-- An Industry Wide Crisis
$20 Billion lost annually to Abnormal Situations
Loss of production, damage to equipment
Health & safety consequences
Environmental Excursions
Challenges
Complexity & Coupling of Automation
Operator Loading
Extended Equipment Runtimes
Industry initiatives
Critical Condition Management best practices by PAS
Abnormal Situation Management™ (ASM) Consortium
Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Assoc. (EEMUA)
The Root Cause of Alarm Issues: We have found the culprit…
and it is us!
Who designs and maintains the equipment?
Who designs and manages the process?
What is Alarm Management?
Definition: The proper design, implementation, operation,
and maintenance of alarm systems
Benefits:
Improved situational awareness
Reduced operator workload
Reduced incident rate
Improved reliability & profitability
Seven Steps to a Highly Effective Alarm System
1. Develop, Adopt, and Maintain an Alarm Philosophy
2. Collect Data and Benchmark Your Systems
3. Perform “Bad Actor” Alarm Resolution
4. Perform Alarm Documentation and Rationalization (D&R)
5. Implement Alarm Audit and Enforcement Technology
6. Implement Real Time Alarm Management
7. Control and Maintain Your Improved System