SAFETY at oil refineries and chemicals plants is being compromised by the
very alarm systems that are meant to warn of danger.
So many alarms are installed around these plants that they are often ignored.
Worse, when an accident does happen, a confusing cacophony of alarms can mean
that operators often don’t take the right action.
“An alarm should tell you that you have to do something, and you should have
enough time to do it,” says Ian Gibson, principal technical specialist for
process and control systems at Fluor Australia in Melbourne. But the sheer
number of alarms in a…
