Alarm Management Primer — Facilities Management
Principles of Effective BAS Alarm Management
The State of BAS Alarm Management
Most of us in FM have seen first-hand a Building Automation System (BAS) with thousands of unacknowledged alarms. We have also heard stories about incidents resulting from a critical BAS alarm being missed. These are symptoms of a systematic alarm management problem that plagues many industries (it is not unique to Facilities Management).
Since alarms come as a standard feature on every BAS, they are essentially “free” to use. Not much thought goes into defining which alarms are needed or why. This leads to poor alarms and is why facilities management is plagued by alarm overload, nuisance alarms, and alarm fatigue.
The path forward is to create and follow guidelines for what should be alarmed, such as those documented below. Adopting these fundamental concepts can turn your alarm system into a tool where alarms are useful, understandable, and meaningful.
What is a Facility Alarm (or what should it be)?
Facility alarm: a facility abnormal space condition, performance deviation, or equipment malfunction…
=> The condition is unexpected and not a result of normal operations.
which requires a timely operator action (e.g., write a CMMS work order, adjust a BAS temperature setpoint)…
=> A human response is required to address the issue.
to prevent a consequence. (e.g., loss of lab research or shutdown of an OR).
=> There is a consequence if no action is taken.
Reference: Adapted from ANSI/ISA-18.2.
What Happens When Alarms Don’t follow the Definition
Poor alarm definition can lead to many alarm management issues, which increases operational risk.
Characteristics of a Good Alarm
- Relevant: not spurious or of low operational value
- Unique: not duplicating another alarm
- Timely: not long before any response is needed or too late to do anything
- Prioritized: indicating the importance that the operator deals with the problem
- Understandable: having a message which is clear and easy to understand
- Diagnostic: identifying the problem that has occurred
- Advisory: indicative of the action to be taken
- Focusing: drawing attention to the most important issues
Reference: “Alarm Systems: A Guide to design, management and procurement”, EEMUA Publication 191
Alarm Rationalization — Make Your Alarms Meaningful & Actionable
Alarm rationalization is the process for reviewing alarms to ensure they meet the expected requirements. The following questions, derived from the alarm definition, can be used as alarm “Go / No Go” criteria during rationalization.
Non-Alarm Notifications
One of the leading causes of alarm fatigue in facility management is when the BAS alarm system is used to communicate any information that the operator / dispatcher might need to know, whether it is an alarm or not. Instead, the alarm system should be reserved for TRUE alarms that require an action to prevent a consequence. Notifications that don’t meet the criteria for being an alarm (called alerts, prompts, and notices) should be presented separately from alarms for viewing when time permits).
Call to Action: At Virtual Facility we have the tools to help you turn your alarm system into a useful O&M tool for mitigating operational risk instead of its own source of problems. Give us a call or request a demo to learn more.
Email us: makebetterwork@vfacility.ai
Download a Copy of the Alarm Management Primer for Facilities Management
