In an ideal world, every alarm in a process control system would indicate a malfunction or abnormal condition that required operator action. In the real world, alarms that are irrelevant or annunciate excessively—otherwise known as nuisance alarms—can pop up occasionally to quite frequently. They pose a risk to the successful operation of the plant because they overload operators with nonessential noise and desensitize them to the importance of alarms (“I can ignore this alarm…”).

Alarm shelving provides a way for the operator to manage these nuisance alarms safely and securely. Shelving provides a controlled mechanism for the operator to temporarily remove a nuisance alarm from view until the underlying problem can be addressed. It is such an important tool for alarm handling that it is now required control system functionality per ISA-18.2-2016 and IEC 62682 (Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries). As a result, more and more control systems have added this as a standard feature. 

However, many end users hesitate to allow their operators to shelve alarms…Why is this?To help control system industry practitioners get the facts about alarm shelving, exida has published The Alarm Shelving ebook.

The ebook addresses the following topics:

• Alarm shelving: what it is, and why it is necessary
• Nuisance alarms and the danger of constant exposure to operators
• How alarm shelving relieves nuisance alarm fatigue
• Alarm shelving guidelines & recommendations for your alarm philosophy
• Considerations for the effective use of shelving
• Answers to common concerns about alarm shelving
• Shelving functionality: What should your control system provide? (Based on ISA-18.2 / IEC 62682)
• Overview of shelving functionality provided by common control systems

Download the Alarm Shelving ebook here.