Australian Vinyls

Alarm Management and Rationalisation

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

AV – Alarm Management and Rationalisation

•  Australian Vinyls – what we are •  2008 Planned Replacement of Plant Control

system •  Increase in alarms generated •  Alarm and message reduction program

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

Australian Vinyls

•  Manufacture PVC and Wood Plastic Composites

•  PVC about 130kt per annum •  Major Hazard Facility

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

•  PVC Process Overview AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

•  Control System Replacement 2008 – New ABB system

•  Alarm count dramatically increased – Device alarms (CCF) > 900 / shift – Sequence alarms (TCL) > 2700 / shift – >5 per minute – Floods in the multiple 000’s

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

•  Consequences of excessive alarms – Operators miss events / ignore key alarms –  Incidents / unintentional equipment damage etc. – Short term mitigation

•  Extra Control room operators •  Engineering resources diverted to alarm management

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

•  Why did alarms levels increase – Older systems alarms expensive – New software alarms

•  Easy to implement •  Each device could have multiple alarms •  People err on the side of caution •  New additions tend to add in every bell and whistle

– New control system no specific effort put into this aspect before switch-over

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

n Key steps – Establish a process Appoint a Champion

Data Collection - Daily analysis of A & M history Recording and reporting results / Daily / Monthly / Yearly Identify ‘nuisance’ alarms and messages – Daily / Monthly Recommend opportunities to eliminate Implement changes Measure progress – set Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s_)

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

n Key steps – Analyse and Act Identify the main opportunities Repetitive TCL message frequencies (1 msg / 2 sec) Convert non essential TCL messages to INFO (non alarm) Widen deadband for analog signal “chatter” Fix device faults in fault Alarm masking (alarm when relevant)-consequential alarms Dynamic changing/enable/disable of alarm settings

•  Focus on stripping column operation as >50% CCF alarms

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

n Key steps – Set Targets n  Initially CCF 150 / 12 hr shift

Initially TCL 250 / 12 hr shift n Key Steps – Set Priorities

n Also introduced a system to ensure any changes made to the alarm system were consistent and would not cause other issues – Formal management of change

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

Priority Occurrence Emergency (Panel/ESD) Very infrequently High < 5/shift Medium < 2/hour Low < 10/hour

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls – Weekend / Daily Report

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation

Australian Vinyls

•  Summary –  Learn from what others are doing –  Establish a process to manage alarms –  Use existing resources, EEMUA 191, ISA 18.2 etc. –  Measure, analyse and act

AV Bio Control System Replacement Alarms Solutions

AV – External Alarm Management and Rationalisation