Alarm Management - the alarm overload challenge and its impact on day-to-day operations

Sensors and other control elements work continuously to detect degradations or abnormalities and alert any to the watchkeeping officer typically by the provisioning of brightly coloured and noisy alarms, engineered to immediately attract the attention of any human in its vicinity.

Crews keep vessels safe not because nothing goes wrong, but because they continuously recognize, absorb, and adapt to disruptions. Alarms are meant to protect operations – yet onboard vessels they can also compete for attention, drive mode confusion, and push decision-making toward fast, habitual responses.

Human Factors design problem: How do we set people up for success (or failure) through technology, procedures, organization, and context.

Program:

17:30 – 17:35 Welcome by Morten Ladekarl Chair IDA Maritim.

17:35 – 18:05 Alarm Management in the Maritime Industry – sink or swim? by Asger C. Schliemann-Haug, Lead Data Scientist, Lloyd´s Register.

Introduction: Despite extensive investment in alarms during the construction of modern ships, little evidence exists as to whether engineering crews can actually respond to them.

So, does the design of modern ships allow seafaring engineers to respond effectively to alarms? and if not, what can we do to ensure that it does going forward?

18:05 – 18:35 Refreshments

18:35 – 19:05: People as Capacity: Alarm Management that Supports Adaptive Performance by Thomas Koester, Psychologist, Senior Human Factors Specialist, FORCE Technology.

Introduction: Crews keep vessels safe not because nothing goes wrong, but because they continuously recognize, absorb, and adapt to disruptions. Alarms are meant to protect operations – yet onboard vessels they can also compete for attention, drive mode confusion, and push decision-making toward fast, habitual responses.

In this talk, Thomas Koester will frame alarm management as a Human Factors design problem: how we set people up for success (or failure) through technology, procedures, organization, and context.

Drawing on examples from field studies, Thomas Koester will connect these with Human Factors principles and ideas ranging from Jens Rasmussen to Dekker and Hollnagel. The key message is practical: if systems rely on people to adapt, then alarm philosophy, prioritization, and response support must be designed to enable that adaptive capacity – rather than consume it.

19:05 – 19:15: Final questions and conclusion by Morten Ladekarl Chair IDA Maritim.

The event is in collaboration with Danish Society for Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

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