1. business and industrial
2. energy
3. natural gas

Control Room Alarm Management
IROQUOIS PIPELINE OPERATING COMPANY
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
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Jonathan Cottle
Manager, Systems Development
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9 Years with Iroquois Gas
Commercial Operations IT Manager
Project Development, Management, and Maintenance
Gas Control and Transportation Services Departments
Subsystems include: SCADA/Historian, Customer Activities Portal,
Informational Postings and Invoicing Systems
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 1, #1
Agenda
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The Pipeline and Control Room
Why Control Room Alarm Management?
Challenges while getting there
Risks and Consequences in doing nothing
How the challenges are addressed – 4 Methods
Future Initiatives
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 1, #2
Key Facts
 416-mile interstate natural
gas pipeline.
 Begins at the TransCanada
interconnect in Iroquois,
Ontario.
 Extends from the U.S.
Canadian border at
Waddington, NY, through
New York State and western
Connecticut to Commack,
NY.
 And from Huntington, NY to
its terminus in Hunts Point
in Bronx, NY.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 1, #3
Interconnections
Compressor Stations
 Waddington, NY to TransCanada
Pipelines
 Canajoharie, NY to Dominion
Transmission
 Wright, NY to Tennessee Gas Pipeline
 Brookfield, CT to Algonquin Gas
Transmission
 Shelton, CT to Tennessee Gas Pipeline
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Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Croghan
Boonville
Wright
Athens
Dover
Brookfield – Algonquin Gas
Milford
Section 1, #4
IGTS Partners
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44% TransCanada Pipelines Limited
23% Dominion Resources, Inc.
20% National Grid
6% New Jersey Resources Corporation
5% Iberdrola, U.S.A.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 1, #5
Control Room
 Workday staff:
 Gas Controller
 Transportation Representative
 Chief Controller
 Gas Control Manager
 Off hours staff:
 Gas Controller Only
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Pipeline Operation
Coordination with Interconnects
Customer Inquiries
Nominations Scheduling
Dispatching Field Technicians
Section 2, #1
Why Control Room Alarm Management?
“Each operator using a SCADA system must have a written alarm
management plan to provide for effective controller response to
alarms…” CFR 192.631
 Conserve Controller Availability
 Reduce nuisance alarms
 Consolidate alarm groups
 Evaluate necessity of alarms
 RED: RESPONSE and DISPATCH required
 YELLOW ALARMS: RESPONSE required / DISPATCH determined
 Alarms NOT acknowledged until Response made
 Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration…
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 3, #1
Why Control Room Alarm Management?
Title 49: Transportation; PART 192 – TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY
PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS; Subpart L - Operations
§ 192.631 Control room management.
(e) Alarm management. Each operator using a SCADA system must have a written alarm management plan
to provide for effective controller response to alarms. An operator’s plan must include provisions to:
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(1) Review
SCADA safety-related alarm operations using a process that
ensures alarms are accurate and support safe pipeline operations;
(2) Identify at least once each calendar month points affecting safety that have been
taken off scan in the SCADA host, have had alarms inhibited,
generated false alarms, or that have had forced or manual values for periods of time exceeding that
required for associated maintenance or operating activities;
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(3) Verify the correct safety-related alarm set-point values and alarm descriptions at least
once each calendar year, but at intervals not to exceed 15 months;
(4) Review the alarm management plan required by this paragraph at least once each calendar year, but at
intervals not exceeding 15 months, to determine the effectiveness of the plan;
(5) Monitor the content and volume of general activity being directed to and required of
each controller at least once each calendar year, but at intervals not to exceed 15 months, that will assure
controllers have sufficient time to analyze and react to incoming alarms; and
(6) Address deficiencies identified through the implementation of paragraphs (e)(1) through (e)(5) of this section.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 3, #2
Challenges to Alarm Management
 Recurring (Nuisance) Alarms
 Alarm Floods
“An alarm flood has been defined by ANSI/ISA 18.2 as being 10 or more
annunciated alarms in any 10-minute period per operator.”
 Which ones require action, which can be ignored?
 Maintenance Alarms (vs. Operational)
 Conflicting Duties
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Managing Facilities
Customer Interaction
Interconnects / Reductions
First Responders
Marketing Available Capacity
Dispatching / Issue Management
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
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Section 4, #1
Risks Associated with Doing Nothing
 Safety : Public, Employees, Equipment, Property
 Loss of Situational Awareness
 System Abandonment
 Reportable Operational Offenses
 Audit / Fines
 Business Efficiencies and Continuity
 Unplanned Downtime
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 5, #1
Four Methods to Address Challenges
1. SCADA Working Group
 Gas Control/IT/Engineering/Field
Operations
 Alarm Reports, Alarm Tracking
3. Alarm Acknowledgement
Metrics
4. Safety Related Testing History
2. Reviewing Occurrences
 Alarm History Screen
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #1
Aggregating Data into VALUABLE Information
Anatomy of an Alarm = DATA
 Tag Name
 Alarm Characteristics (Priority, Site, Enabled status)
 Alarm On Date/Time
 Alarm Acknowledgement Info (Who, When, Where)
 Alarm Off Date/Time
Tools for Alarm Management = INFORMATION
 Volume and Content of Activity
 Alarm Tracking Information
 Alarm Acknowledgement
 Safety Related Testing History
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #2
#1 - Reviewing Alarm Reports
Alarm Tracking: “Who has the ball?”
Create an Alarm Tracking lookup table using the tag as a key to join to and
include in the Alarm Reports.
Answers the question: “Didn’t we just discuss this last time?”
Methods of resolution:
•Resolve alarm condition
•Modify alarm criteria
•Remove alarm from SCADA
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #3
#1a - Current Alarm Report
CONFIDENTIAL
Tracking Info
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #4
CONFIDENTIAL
#1b - Disabled Alarm Report
Possible Resolutions
•Address Issue in the Field (Pipeline, Devices, PLC/RTU logic)
•Remove Alarm from SCADA
•Schedule Re-Enabling (example: after field work completion)
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #5
#1c - Alarm Count Report
Earliest Occurrence
Tracking Info
CONFIDENTIAL
Occurrences (2 weeks)
Latest Occurrence
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #6
#2 - Alarm History
The Alarm History page in SCADA is used to apply filters to alarm
events and user actions to develop a timeline.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section
Section
3, 6,
#2#7
#2 - Alarm History Screen
Color/Severity
Alarm Name (prefix,tag)
Dates
Location
User
Alarm State
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #8
#2 - Alarm History Screen
Alarm Name = crgp
(Croghan prefix )
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Dates: 9/17 5:30-5:45 AM
Section 6, #9
#3 - Alarm Acknowledgement
Customized reports collect and aggregate different categories of Alarm Acknowledgement time,
and monitor the volume of activity being directed at controllers.
Take caution before using this metric, valid circumstances can explain different reaction time.
Avoid consolidating all results to a single average. Rather look for trends in responding to certain
categories of alarms, or at certain times of day, or at certain volumes of activity
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 6, #10
#4 - Safety Related Testing History
The Historian provides a historical verification of safety-related alarm set point tests pursuant
to federal guidelines.
“When was the last time this was tested?”
Make a SAFETY RELATED POINT lookup table to join to the Alarm Histories that includes
required testing intervals.
AUDIT REPORTS
Show Completed Testing
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
FORECASTING REPORTS
For Maintenance Planning
Section 6, #11
Future Initiatives
Future Pipeline Expansion Necessitates:
 Expand Summary Alarm implementation
 Historian is a valuable tool to identify alarm coincidence
 Remove Maintenance from Operations
 Identify maintenance alarms that can be removed from
SCADA
 Access through Historian reports
 Requires collaboration with Engineering
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 7, #1
The Goal: Reduce Controller Distractions
Summary Alarms
Implementing Summary Alarms can reduce the number of alarms.
Defining groups of associated alarms that all require a similar response. Categories
implemented at Iroquois include:
•Cool down Lock-out
•Cool down Non-Lock-Out
•Fast Stop Lock-Out
•Fast Stop Non-Lock-Out
For each group create a new Summary Bit in the PLC that is set ON when any subset of
the alarms in the group are on.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 7, #2
The Goal: Reduce Controller Distractions
Draw a line between Operations and Maintenance
The primary responsibilities of the controller are safety, pipeline management, and
working with interconnects.
Remove Maintenance Alarms from SCADA and provide access to Historian to remove
the Control Room from this process.
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 7, #3
RECAP & QUESTIONS?
Control Room Alarm Management Plan. Limited Controller Resources
Challenges: Filtering and Aggregating the Data
Risks and Consequences: Safety, Efficiency, Awareness…
Solution: Organize, Review, Develop/Maintain Metrics
Continuous Improvement
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
Section 8, #1