Recommendations for the LHC safety alarm system

A working group was set up to define the LHC safety alarm system, also known as Alarm-of-Level-3-System (AL3S). The mandate asked for recommendations to be elaborated on four items: the overall concept of the AL3S for machine and experiments, the transmission and display of safety alarms, the AL3S during civil engineering construction, and the transition from the present LEP to the final LHC safety alarm system. The members of the working group represented a wide range of interest and experience including the CERN Fire Brigade, safety officers from experiments and machines, and specialists for safety and control systems. The recommendations highlight the need for a clear definition of responsibilities and procedures, well-engineered homogeneous systems across CERN, and they point to several important issues outside the mandate of the working group. These recommendations were presented, discussed and accepted by several CERN and LHC committees.