Alarm off (crossed-out alarm triangle)
The standard’s wording, as the sources below reproduce it:
“To identify the alarm inhibit on control equipment.”
IEC 60417-5319 · IEC 60601-1-8 alarm systems
What it means for you
Alarms are switched off — the device will not sound or flash for the conditions covered. Hillrom’s glossary adds: “Indicates the alarm is disabled or suppressed, preventing it from sounding.” Mindray’s monitor manual uses the symbol when “individual measurement alarms are turned off or the system is in alarm off status”. Unlike alarm paused, it does not end by itself. At home, if you see it on a relative’s monitor or concentrator and did not expect it, tell the nurse, carer or equipment supplier rather than changing settings yourself.
Whether a device is right for you is a question for your pharmacist, nurse or doctor.
- What it looks like
- The alarm triangle with its sound arc, crossed out by a large X in solid lines. On a monitor screen it is often white on a red square, and a measurement name such as SpO2 may be printed under it.
- Where you see it
- In the alarm area of patient-monitor screens (next to a parameter such as HR or SpO2, or for the whole bed), on central-station displays, and on the alarm key of pumps and ventilators.
- Other names
- alarm inhibit; alarms disabled; alarm off status; crossed alarm triangle
What it does not tell you
It does not say which alarms are off, who turned them off, or whether that was intended — the screen text and the device’s alarm settings do. It is not a fault indicator.
Often confused with
To identify the control for Alarm Paused or to indicate that the alarm system is in the Alarm Paused state.
More symbols in “An alarm triangle or a bell”
Sources
IEC 60417 and IEC 60601-1 are paid standards, so the wording above is quoted as 2 publishers’ public documents reproduce it; our drawing is not the IEC artwork. Each was fetched and read on the date shown:
- Hillrom: Symbols Glossary (80022945 Ver. J) — Row “Alarm inhibit — To identify the alarm inhibit on control equipment. Indicates the alarm is disabled or suppressed, preventing it from sounding.”, IEC 60417-5319, drawn as the alarm triangle crossed by a solid X. Checked 2026-09-28.
- Mindray: iPM 12/iPM 10/iPM 8/iPM 7/iPM 6/iPM 5 Patient Monitor Operator’s Manual — Section 7.3.5 “Alarm Status Symbols”: the crossed-out alarm triangle “indicates individual measurement alarms are turned off or the system is in alarm off status”; its alarm-pause section says the alarm off symbol is displayed in the alarm symbol area during alarm off status. Checked 2026-09-28.
Plain-language parts are in our own words; quotations are the sources’ wording.