The Effects of Relative System Reliability and Prioritization on Alarm Reaction Patterns

Abstract

Alarm system operators often manage multiple alarm systems concurrently. Because such situations often accompany cascading events, it is important to know how operators sequence responses. We examined how the relative reliability and priority of two concurrent alarms affected alarm gauge reset patterns. We hypothesized that operators would respond first to an alarm with higher reliability or higher priority when the other variable was held constant. We also expected participants to respond to alarms with higher priority first when they occurred at the same time as a high-reliability alarm. Sixty-one Old Dominion University undergraduates performed a tracking task and responded to gauge fluctuations (alarms). A between subjects ANOVA revealed that participants responded to alarms with higher priority first when reliability was constant, and to higher reliability alarms first when priority was constant. Our results suggest that relative priority and reliability may be useful parameters to control in complex task situations.