If it’s Not an Alarm, What is it?
Using Alerts, Prompts, and Notices to Reduce Alarm Fatigue
What You Need to Know: 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 (because there is less at stake and/or more time to respond).
Why Separating Alarms from Non-Alarms is Important
Non-alarm notifications are not as important as alarms because no significant consequences should result if they are ignored. This is why mixing alarms and non-alarms in the same summary list is problematic — the operator won’t know which alarms can safely be ignored and which ones can’t. Mixing increases the risk that operators may ignore or miss a TRUE alarm, which can lead to significant business impact (unplanned downtime of a critical space, compliance infraction, occupant safety incident).
Benefits of Removing non-alarm notifications from an alarm list
By separating alarms from non-alarms, a hierarchy of importance is introduced. Alerts, prompts, and notices don’t have the same requirements for monitoring vigilance and urgency of response, so during major system failures they can be set aside to focus on alarms. Other benefits include:
- Drives consistent alarm response behavior (every notification in the alarm list requires action)
- TRUE alarms are less likely to be ignored
- Allows operators / dispatchers to view informational items when time permits
- Reduces the number of alarms that an operator must process / understand during a crisis
- Removes a source of nuisance alarm behavior
How did we Get Here
Historically building automation system alarms have been defined without a guiding alarm philosophy or strict criteria for what should be alarmed. Inconsistent configuration practices and varying use of alarm system capabilities have also contributed to creating alarm systems that are not useful for operators and dispatchers.
“North Star” Definition for Facility Alarms
An effective alarm management program strives to present only TRUE alarms to an operator. By leveraging alarm management standards and practices from other industries, a “north star” definition for a TRUE facility alarm can be expressed as:
Facility alarm:
- a facility abnormal space condition, performance deviation, or equipment malfunction…
- which requires a timely operator action… (e.g., write a work order that is dispatched through a CMMS, adjust a room temperature setpoint through the BAS)
- to prevent a consequence. (e.g., loss of research specimens in an environmentally-controlled lab).
How to Determine if an Existing Alarm is a TRUE Alarm
The process for reviewing potential notifications (including existing alarms) to ensure they meet the definition of an alarm (defined above) is called alarm rationalization. The following criteria, derived from the definition above, can be used as alarm “Go / No Go” criteria during rationalization.
Does the alarm indicate an abnormal (unexpected) event?
- No — If it is a normal event (resulting from an expected operational scenario) then it should NOT be an alarm.
- Yes — Meets the criteria for being an alarm.
Does the alarm require a timely action to prevent a consequence?
- No — If the notification is for information only (awareness), then it should NOT be an alarm.
- A valid action helps address the situation; acknowledging an alarm would NOT be considered a valid action because it doesn’t correct the problem.
- Yes — Meets the criteria for being an alarm.
If these criteria are not satisfied, then the notification should be removed from the system (disabled in the BAS) or categorized and presented as a different type of notification within the system (e.g., an alert, prompt, or notice).
An Easy Way to Categorize Notification Types
The separation of non-alarm notifications allows operators to receive information without the expectation that an urgent response is required to prevent a business impact. Alerts, prompts, and notices are advance warnings; missing one should not directly result in a major issue. In a situation that has escalated, the non-alarm should be followed by an alarm to indicate the new level of urgency.
The following question provides guidance whether a non-alarm notification is worthy of presentation to the operator or should be removed from the system:
Does the operator need to know about this event (Is it worthy of their attention)?
The table below can be used to help assign notification type.
Note that responding to an active alarm would always take precedence over an alert, prompt, or notice (because there is a consequence at stake).
Examples
Examples are always helpful for understanding applications and concepts. Note that the determination of whether a given notification is an alarm, alert, prompt, or notice can be dependent on facility-specific considerations (documented in an alarm management philosophy); thus your implementation could be different from what is shown below.
Call to Action
Consider adopting an approach where alarms that are presented to the operator must meet a defined set of objective criteria. Present non-alarms separately so there is no confusion about what type of response is expected. This will reduce alarm fatigue and improve the output of alarm-driven work.
At Virtual Facility we can help. Our Customer Success team and subject matter experts can help you sift through your alarms to separate out the TRUE alarms from the non-alarms. Our Alarm Triage™ platform centralizes alarms and non-alarms from your different systems, presenting alarms (by priority) in separate views (lenses) from alerts, prompts, and notices.
Email us: makebetterwork@vfacility.ai
