Alarming Standards
ANSI/ISA-18.2-2009 is becoming the basis for any new alarming work. This standard was issued August, 2009 after 3 years of committe work. An introduction to this standard can be found at: http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Standards2&template=Ecommerce/FileDisplay.cfm&ProductID=10724&file=S_182_2009_Preview.pdf. The table of contents can also be viewed here. The full (aproximately 80 page) standard needs to be purchased from ISA. ISA members can view the standard for free however.

Note that process levels are shown in the context of "normal" operating ranges to provide "information" instead of "data". click to show details.
Alarming Best Practices
A description of good and bad HMI alarming practices is presented by Bill Hollifield in a PowerPoint presentation that can be downloaded through TopPDF . It may also be available directly from his company’s web site at http://www.pas.com. I found this presentation informative. It shows examples of using HMI’s to display “information” and not just “data”. The screens suggested are getting grayer with much less color. This is so that color can be used to show abnormal conditions and alarm conditions.
PAS has also published a handbook based on the ISA 18.2 standard that details their view of HMI alarm managagment best practices. http://processingpas.com/amhandbook2ndedition.html
Rockwell also has a presentation on Alarm Management best practice at http://www.rockwellautomation.com/events/automationfair/get/presentations/ed-sessions/EdSession3_AlarmManagementStandardAndBestPractices.pdf. For example, the screen on the left shows “breadcrumbs” or small indicators that light up in red or yellow with a small symbol to indicate trouble or an alarm.
Additional Resources for best practices are depicted in the graphic on the right.
Alarm Rationalization
I ran across this link on Alarm Rationalization: http://www2.emersonprocess.com/siteadmincenter/PM%20DeltaV%20Documents/Whitepapers/WP_Alarm_Rationalization.pdf
There is a LinkedIn discussion on Alarm Rationalization in the Alarm Management Group. One commentator summarized it this way:
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Updated: October 22, 2010 11:30 am | for Publishing October 31, 2010
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