IROQUOIS PIPELINE OPERATING COMPANY
Control Room Alarm Management
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.
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Jonathan Cottle Manager, Systems Development
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. Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 1, #1
Agenda
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
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
Compressor Stations
Croghan
Boonville
Wright
Athens
Dover
Brookfield – Algonquin Gas
Milford
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 1, #4
IGTS Partners
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
Pipeline Operation
Coordination with Interconnects
Customer Inquiries
Nominations Scheduling
Dispatching Field Technicians
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 2, #1
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…
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
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 3, #1
§ 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:
• (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;
• (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.
Title 49: Transportation; PART 192 – TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL AND OTHER GAS BY
PIPELINE: MINIMUM FEDERAL SAFETY STANDARDS; Subpart L - Operations
Why Control Room Alarm Management?
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
Managing Facilities
Customer Interaction
Interconnects / Reductions
First Responders
Marketing Available Capacity
Dispatching / Issue Management
? Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. 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
2. Reviewing Occurrences
Alarm History Screen
3. Alarm Acknowledgement
Metrics
4. Safety Related Testing History
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 6, #1
Aggregating Data into VALUABLE Information
Tools for Alarm Management = INFORMATION
Volume and Content of Activity
Alarm Tracking Information
Alarm Acknowledgement
Safety Related Testing History
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
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
Tracking Info
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 6, #4
CO
NF
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#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
CO
NF
IDE
NT
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#1c - Alarm Count Report
Tracking Info Latest Occurrence Earliest Occurrence
Occurrences (2 weeks)
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 6, #6
CO
NF
IDE
NT
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#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 3, #2 Section 6, #7
#2 - Alarm History Screen
Dates
Color/Severity
Location
User
Alarm Name (prefix,tag)
Alarm State
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. Section 6, #8
#2 - Alarm History Screen
Dates: 9/17 5:30-5:45 AM Alarm Name = crgp
(Croghan prefix )
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. 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
FORECASTING REPORTS
For Maintenance Planning
Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. 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