ALARMING PERFORMANCE

Alarm systems play an important role in maintaining the safe operation of process plant. Poor alarm system performance can result in critica l events being missed by the plant operator, and there have been sever al cases of this contributing to major plant accidents. Consequently t he design and management of alarm systems is receiving increasing atte ntion. This article presents the results of a survey of the management of alarm systems in chemical and power plants that was carried out on behalf of the Health & Safety Executive. Performance data is presente d and a number of exercises to improve installed systems are described . Guidance is also presented on the procurement of alarm systems for n ew plant.