Webinar: Alarm Management - Getting the Most Out of Your Yokogawa Control System

Presenter: Todd Stauffer

• Role: Director of Alarm Management, exida
• Experience:
  • Involvement with ISA 18.2 standard since 2005
  • Co-chair for a new standard on safety controls, alarms, and interlocks

About exida

• Formation: Over 20 years ago with a focus on making the world safer
• Domains: Functional safety, cybersecurity, alarm management
• Functions:
  • Certifies safety devices and systems (e.g., SIL-rated equipment)
  • Certification programs for people
  • Excelentia tool suite for safety system design and engineering
  • SILAlarm tool for alarm rationalization

Agenda

• Alarm management functionality
  • Prioritization and rationalization
  • Alarm shelving
  • Key tools from Yokogawa and others
• Standards and Guidelines
  • AMUA 191 (1999; introduced alarm shelving)
  • ISA 18.2 and IEC 62682
• Alarm Management Life Cycle
  • Workflow processes to create a sustainable program

Tools for Alarm Management

• SILAlarm: Alarm rationalization tool
• ExaQuantum AMD: Yokogawa's master alarm database tool
• CAMs Software:
  • Consolidated alarm management system
  • Advanced alarming functionalities (shelving, suppression, filtering)
• ExaPilot: Advanced alarming procedural automation
• ExaQuantum ARA: Performance monitoring and assessment
• ExaPlug: Event analysis (lower budget alternative)

Alarm Rationalization Process

• Initial Steps:

  • Load alarm configuration into the rationalization tool (e.g., from CAMs or Excel)
  • Evaluate alarm's validity and objectives
  • Importance of senior operators in rationalization

• Prioritization:

  • Assess consequence severity vs. response time
  • Priority assignment (safety, environmental, financial criteria)
  • Prioritization Differences in CAMs: Purpose vs. worst-case consequence

• Classification:

  • Group alarms based on requirements
  • Document functional safety usage of alarms

• Alarm Limits:

  • Document consequence threshold and rationale
  • Import into CAMs and update fields for operator use

Presenting Alarm Response Procedures to Operators

• Alarm Response Procedure (ARP): Job aid with causes, consequences, and corrective actions
• CAMs Presentation:
  • Guidance tab for alarm messages
  • Enhanced fields with rationalization information (time to respond, detailed consequences)

Alarm Suppression Methods

• Types:

  • Design Suppression: Automatic suppression by control system
  • Alarm Shelving: Temporary operator suppression
  • Out of Service: Maintenance-related suppression

• Shelving in CAMs:

  • Introduced by Yokogawa in 2006
  • Types of Shelving: One-shot, continuous, automatic
  • Setting up Shelves: Define name, type, duration, and access restrictions
  • Operational Use: Drag and drop alarms to designated shelves; review reports for continuous improvement

Advanced Alarming and Design Suppression

• Eclipsing: Hides less important alarms (e.g., hide High when High-High is active)
• Static Suppression: Planned suppression for maintenance or non-use scenarios
• Dynamic Suppression: Unplanned mode transitions (e.g., equipment trip)
• Tool Usage: Suppression in control system, CAMs, or ExaPilot based on scenarios

Performance Monitoring and Assessment

• KPIs and Metrics:
  • Evaluate overall alarm rate and different nuisance alarms
  • Reports for alarm rate at operating positions, alarms floods, chattering alarms, stale alarms, bad actor alarms
• Tools:
  • ExaQuantum ARA: Dashboard for performance monitoring

Auditing and Enforcement

• Process:
  • Compare master alarm database vs. control system
  • Tools: SILAlarm, ExaQuantum AMD

Summary

• CAMs Software: Core component for Yokogawa system alarm management
• Rationalization and Shelving:
  • Importance of operator support for nuisance alarms
  • Use of various Yokogawa software tools for optimizing alarm functionality
• Continuous Improvement:
  • Regular performance monitoring
  • Use of audit and enforcement tools to maintain system integrity

Training and Resources

• Upcoming training classes: Alarm management, functional safety, cybersecurity
• On-demand courses available for flexible learning
• Access additional webinars and resources through exida's website and YouTube channel

Questions and Contact Information

• Presenter's Email: Open for questions and suggestions for future webinars