Alarm overload is undermining safety at sea as crews face thousands of alerts

Summary

New research from Lloyd’s Register (LR) has revealed that excessive and nuisance shipboard alarm systems are routinely overwhelming crews and, in many cases, actively undermining safety at sea. The findings, published today in Effective Alarm Management in the Maritime Industry are based on data collected from 11 operational vessels, spanning over 2,000 days and more than 40 million alarm-related events. The study shows that many ships generate thousands of alarms every day, many of which provide little or no operational value. The result is widespread alarm fatigue, disrupted rest periods and a growing erosion of trust in systems that are intended to protect both crews and assets. The research applied recognised industrial best practice, including IEC 62682 and EEMUA 191, to maritime operations for the first time at this scale. It found that fewer than half of the vessels studied met the recommended benchmark of fewer than 30 alarms per hour, while on ships with unattended machinery spaces alarms disrupted 63% of rest periods. In some cases, cruise ships experienced up to 2,600 alarms per day, with peak rates reaching 4,691 alarms in just ten minutes. Crews, overwhelmed by the volume of alerts, are forced to silence alarms without acknowledgement or physically bypass alarm circuits, normalising unsafe practices and eroding trust in critical safety systems. Effective Alarm Management in the Maritime Industry: Insights from 40 million vessel alarms builds on LR’s Effective Alarm Management in the Maritime Industry report (released in September 2024) by moving beyond diagnosis to demonstrate what can be achieved in practice. A pilot project on an operational cruise ship reduced total alarm numbers by almost 50 per cent over a six-month period, without new technology or major system redesign. Improvements were delivered through traditional marine engineering interventions, including correcting valve installations, replacing faulty sensors and tuning existing systems. L...