The quick answer is yes, because it can help prevent accidents and loss in production. It ensures a maintained alarm system, which is more cost efficient than having larger alarm rationalisation projects at irregular intervals. For new projects and modifications, the alarm philosophy is the basis for the changes, so this should be in place in order to have an optimal alarm system.
An alarm list from ABB 800xA alarm management system
How can you know if your alarms are giving you a problem? There are different indicators that can be seen when we are experiencing alarm problems, and they usually show up in the alarm system.
So what is an alarm system?
The easy answer is: "Because it is a statutory requirement". An Alarm Philosophy has to follow specific standards, and in a court of law you could be held accountable for not applying the standards to your alarm system design. However, there is more than the legal aspect to it. The Alarm Philosophy exists for operational, safety, work environmental, design and behaviour reasons - and ultimately, cost effectiveness.
It is easy to understand that the consequence of not responding to a critical alarm may be incidents, accidents and potentially enormous costs. However, it is not that straight forward to understand that there is a cost associated with any alarm. How can we quantify that cost?
