Human Factors in Control Room Design

A Practical Guide for Project Managers and Senior Engineers

Tex Crampin

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781118535660
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Mechanical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A succinct guide to a Human Factors programme of work

This book provides a reference for project managers to assist in identifying the key rudiments of good Human Factors design. It is intended to be used in conjunction with an appointed Human Factors manager as part of a detailed design programme, read by all engineers and designers in order to establish a wide understanding across the whole team of the importance of Human Factors.

Human Factors in Military and Industrial Control Room Design offers succinct advice, tailored for rapid injection into complex Human Factors programmes, together with applicability to any control room design, military or industrial. Applications include warship control rooms, command centres, fire and accident response centres, chemical plants, nuclear installations, oil rigs, refineries and other similar industries.

Key features:

• A template for a thorough Human Factors programme of work.
• Applicability to any control room design.
• Aims to address operator workload and optimise system performance, comfort and safety.
• Can save significant costs by optimised system integration and enhanced system operation.

It is advised that project managers use Human Factors in Military and Industrial Control Room Design as a template to develop a control room "Operating Philosophy" and "Human Computer Interface (HCI) Style Guide" for their own purposes within the constraints of their specific industry.

1
Introduction to the Guide

1.1 Purpose and Scope

The title Human Factors in Control Room Design – A Practical Guide for Project Managers and Senior Engineers will be referred to in this document as ‘the Guide.’

The Guide aims to provide easy access to practical and objective Human Factors (HF) data in order to achieve rapid and high fidelity control room design. It contains the rudiments of good HF design practice, based on years of experience by the author, in order to undertake complex control room designs quickly and accurately. This Guide does not replace more detailed and textual HF Guidance such as DefStan 00‐250 (Ref 1) and other standards, but it does enable a grasp of the key HF ‘rules‐of‐thumb’ in order that a busy project team can get on with the design quickly and hit the ground running within the realistic constraints of a ‘design advice needed now’ commercial and military working environment.

The scope of the Guide makes it applicable to all but the most specialised control rooms. It does not cover, for example, medical operating theatres or precision engineering manufacturing plants although it could easily be adapted to do so with sufficient Subject Matter Expertise (SME) input. It covers the spatial and Human‐computer Interface (HCI) aspects of those rapid reaction control rooms typified by teams of civil or military personnel striving for maximum efficiency in information management, safety and mission situational awareness. Thus it applies to control rooms used by Police, Fire, Ambulance or Coastguard personnel; chemical plants, industrial production plants, refineries, oil rigs, RN warships and submarines, Army and RAF tactical control rooms, tri‐service and NATO battle command rooms, air traffic control rooms, etc.

The development and advances in technology have allowed plant and equipment monitoring and control to move away from local control panels. Instead of arrays of dedicated controls and displays, modern control rooms are tending towards centralised remote control via flat screen multifunction displays, sometimes touch screen. However, some dedicated displays and controls should be retained for safety critical functions. This introduces new problems in that information, notably on overall situational awareness, is not readily available throughout the system. Easy‐to‐use screen navigation, together with easy‐to‐interpret screen information, is essential in order to maintain optimum system performance, enhanced safety, user comfort and reduced errors. Further, it is essential to determine what screen real estate (sometimes called glass area) will be required, early in the programme.

2
HF Design Process

2.1 Outline Design Process

Effective control room design starts with a sound HF strategy and process (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Outline HF design process.

Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

2.2 Detailed Design Process

The following diagram outlines the key HF design stages, explained in more detail below, leading to the development of a Control Room Operating Philosophy (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2 HF design process.

Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

(Alphanumeric numbering is used above to delineate the key design process stages explained in subsequent sub‐sections below in order to provide a simple checklist for designers).

1. A State System Mission Objectives
   1. A1 Define System Aim – Define the overall aims of the system in terms of what both the equipment and operators are striving to achieve. For example, to provide control and surveillance of all manufacturing processes in order to achieve maximum productivity, safety and user comfort.
   2. A2 Scope Boundary of System Capabilities – Draw the whole human‐machine system on one sheet of paper, ready to be broken down into human and machine elements through Task Analysis (see D2 below).
   3. A3 Identify Design Constraints – Identify any design constraints that dictate the direction of the design. For example, a need for retained or reduced manning; a need for similar interface design to other plants in order to reduce training overheads, etc.
2. B Define HF Policy
   1. B1 Define HF Policy and Strategy – Define the extent of HF involvement and the HF strategy in terms of how HF services will be implemented. For example, ascertain whether there is a policy to reduce manning, introduce touch screen HCIs and reduce workload within one of the highly critical Control Room processes, etc.
   2. B2 Identify Relevant HF Standards – Identify and list the key HF Standards relevant to the design within the industry concerned. For example, DefStan 00‐250 and 08‐111 for military systems, existing standards in the Oil or Chemical businesses, etc. The purpose of this HF Guide is not to review standards; this mus...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Author
• Preface
• 1 Introduction to the Guide
• 2 HF Design Process
• 3 Workspace Human Factors
• 4 Human-machine Interface Design
• 5 Human-computer Interface Design
• 6 Environmental Ergonomics
• 7 Training
• 8 Assessment and Acceptance Testing
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement