Alarms in human supervisory control: a human factors perspective

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a human factors perspective of alarm handling. This is done by first considering what defines an alarm, and how a number of perspectives contribute towards the definition. The nature of alarms and incidents are discussed, then the problems with, and the reduction of, alarms are considered. Finally, a model of alarm handling is presented to demonstrate how a human factors approach might contribute to an improved understanding of the operator's task.