Common SCADA Alarm Design Mistakes
Practical alarm design mistakes that create nuisance alarms, floods, operator confusion, and poor incident response.
Alarm everything
If everything is an alarm, nothing is. An alarm should represent a condition requiring operator awareness or action. Status changes and informational events belong in event logs or displays, not always in the alarm banner.
Missing operator action
Every alarm should answer: what happened, why it matters, what the operator should check, and what action may be required. If no action exists, the alarm design should be questioned.
Poor priority discipline
Priority should reflect urgency and consequence, not the preference of the person configuring the point. Too many high-priority alarms train operators to ignore priority.
No deadband or delay
Analog alarms without deadband or on-delay can chatter around limits. Chattering alarms consume attention and make event history harder to interpret.
Copy-paste messages
Alarm text should include equipment context, condition, and useful units. Generic messages like Fault or High Alarm force operators to hunt for meaning during abnormal conditions.
No review loop
Alarm systems need periodic review. Nuisance alarms, stale alarms, floods, and standing alarms should be measured and cleaned up.