Issuing agency: Lloyd's Register
Column: research report
source: https://www.lr.org/en/knowledge/research-reports/2026/alarm-management/
With ships generating thousands of daily alerts, crews are drowning in noise, triggering dangerous alarm fatigue that undermines safety at sea. The latest LR research dives deep into more than 40 million alarm related events across 11 vessels, revealing a troubling truth: most alarms offer little operational value, disrupt rest and push crews toward risky workarounds.
40+ million alarm events analysed across 11 operational vessels, exposing how current systems routinely exceed human capacity.
65 active watchkeepers contributed real-world bridge and ECR insights, revealing how alarm overload disrupts rest and erodes trust in critical alerts.
Maritime crews worldwide continue to struggle with overwhelming alarm systems, where thousands of daily alerts can turn critical operations into a battle against ‘alarm fatigue’. Building on the combined feedback from 65 active watchkeepers with real-world bridge and ECR observations, during the first stage of the research, this follow up research within LR’s Digital Transformation Research Programme provides a quantitative analysis of alarm behaviour, drawing on more than 40 million alarm events across 11 vessels. By applying recognised industrial standards and contextualising results with onboard observations, this report reveals how current alarm systems routinely exceed human capacity, disrupt crew rest, and erode trust—yet also demonstrates that meaningful improvements are both practical and achievable with modest, engineering led interventions.