When an operator only has a few seconds to avoid a plant upset, are you confident that your Alarm System delivers the critical information required to take proper actions?

 

Discover how PAS and NovaTech can help you improve plant safety, efficiency, and operator effectiveness in compliance with the ISA 18.2 standard by attending our free and informative webinar series.

Series Overview

Poor performing alarm systems overwhelm the operator with alarm floods and hinder his ability to effectively manage plant upsets. Industry incident investigations have shown that time is the most critical factor in a console operator’s ability to deal with abnormal situations. They must often be able to take action within seconds in order to safely mitigate the impact of an upset.

NovaTech will be presenting a series of webinars to further explain the importance of alarm systems, recent regulatory issues, and well tested strategies to ensure your alarm system is designed to do its job – provide the operator with meaningful information during plant upsets, increasing plant safety and reliability.

Schedule Overview

Please note that all webinars are scheduled for Wednesdays
(attendees:  view list of international and local toll free #’s)

• February 15, 2012; 10:30 AM EST: 18.2 Overview – VIEW  / DOWNLOAD 
• February 29, 2012; 10:30 AM EST: First Steps to Alarm Management (Steps 1 -3) – VIEW / DOWNLOAD 
• March 14, 2012; 10:30 AM EDT: D&R and Audit & Enforce (Steps 4 & 5) - VIEW / DOWNLOAD
• March 28, 2012; 10:30 AM EDT: Real Time Alarm Management / System Control & Maintenance (Steps 6 &7) -  VIEW  / DOWNLOAD 
• April 11, 2012; 10:30 AM EDT: Control Loop Performance Monitoring (Analysis & Performance Optimization) –  VIEW / DOWNLOAD
• April 25, 2012; 10:30 AM EDT: Alarm management from the D/3 Operator Perspective - VIEW  / DOWNLOAD 

 

Series & Schedule Detail

Webinar 1 – 18.2 Overview

VIEW  / DOWNLOAD 

In June of 2009, the ISA released standard ISA 18.2, Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industry.  This landmark document is the first true standard on how companies are expected to design, implement and maintain alarms generated by process control systems.  In this webinar we shall provide an overview of the ISA 18.2 standard, the regulatory impact of this standard, and what you can do to ensure your facility is compliant with these requirements.

Download here the PDF of Alarm Management Handbook, Chapter 1

Webinar 2 – First Steps to Alarm Mgmt (Steps 1-3)

VIEW / DOWNLOAD 

The steps required to implement a well designed alarm system, which is compliant with ISA 18.2,  are well understood and proven.  In this webinar we shall provide information on the first three steps typically employed during an alarm management improvement project:

• Developing an Alarm Philosophy
• Baseline alarm system performance
• Bad Actor Alarm Resolution

Webinar 3 – D&R and Audit & Enforce (Steps 4 & 5)

VIEW / DOWNLOAD

The next steps in an alarm management project typically involve redesigning the alarm system to match the alarm philosophy, and implementing technology and work practices to ensure proper management of change procedures.  In this webinar we shall present strategies on how to fundamentally redesign your alarm system:

• Documentation & Rationalization
• Audit & Enforce

Webinar 4 – Real Time Alarm Management / System Control & Maintenance (Steps 6 & 7) 

VIEW  / DOWNLOAD 

The final steps in alarm management include advanced techniques to dynamically manipulate alarms to match current plant states, and work practices to ensure long term maintenance of your alarm system:

• Real Time Alarm Management
• System Control & Maintenance

Webinar 5 – Control Loop Performance Monitoring (Analysis & Performance Optimization)

 VIEW / DOWNLOAD

Automation system control loops (PID controllers and APC applications) play a critical role ensuring plant safety and reliability.  Unfortunately, industry data has shown that in the average plant, only one-third of the control loops are functioning properly at any given time. The remaining two-thirds contribute significantly to excessive alarms, process upsets, reduced product quality, and increased operator loading.

In this webinar we shall provide an overview on strategies and technologies that control system engineers can use to automatically detect poor performing loops, and implement a program to ensure optimal control system performance.

Webinar 6 – Alarm Management from the Operators Perspective

Effective use of Alarm Management tools increases the Operator’s Awareness and Effectiveness by enhancing their ability to respond to operational abnormalities before they become critical or catastrophic in nature.

In this webinar we shall demonstrate the integration of Alarm management tools with a traditional operator’s console environment and discuss the benefits of a number of tools including Alert Director, Alarm Filtering, and Alarm Shelving.

Special Offers: 

When you attend 4 out of the 6 webinars in the “Alarm Management Essentials” series, you will receive a free copy of PAS’ The Alarm Management Handbook (a $90 value).  The handbook provides a field-proven methodology for improving the performance of Industrial facility’s alarm systems. It derives from over a decade of research and the lessons learned from hundreds of successful alarm improvement projects.  

For more information on the handbook, please visit: http://www.pas.com/Technical-Books/Alarm-Management-Handbook.aspx

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Click here for more information on how NovaTech has partnered with PAS to deploy and support their industry-leading Alarm Management methodology and software.