Alarm Management for Pipelines

Looking at the process industries, one can envision the future of the pipeline industry. Alarm management has been successfully applied to many facilities and the best practices have been established. Acquiring the ability to monitor alarms, perform analysis, and document changes to ensure proper management controls becomes part of the solution.  In 2005 the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that an effective alarm review/audit system will increase the likelihood of controllers appropriately responding to alarms associated with pipeline leaks. This paper looks at the pipeline industry in the broader context of process industry alarm management and how the best practices of the process industry apply to the pipeline industry.