Alarm rationalisation is a key part of alarm management, but documentation alone has its limitations. This post uses evidence from real industrial assets to highlight the gap between documented operator responses and what actually happens in practice. Intelligent Plant's SEER app helps bridge this gap by visualising actual operator interventions, showing how frequently each response occurs and how often it leads to the alarm clearing.

Not all alarms are equal. Some clear within seconds, others persist for days without needing any action, and some repeat so frequently that operators learn to silence them without thinking. Understanding the difference between standing, fleeting, and chattering alarms - and why each one matters - is the first step towards getting an alarm system properly under control. Bruce Nicolson, Principal Control Systems Engineer at Intelligent Plant, explains.

Alarm management is the process of designing, maintaining, and continuously improving an industrial alarm system so that operators receive only meaningful, actionable alerts.