Human Factors in Control Room Design (eBook)

A Practical Guide for Project Managers and Senior Engineers

Tex Crampin (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-118-53566-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Human Factors in Military and Industrial Control Room Design
Tex Crampin, Liveware Human Factors Ltd, UK

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.

Tex Crampin, Liveware Human Factors Ltd, Goodwood, UK

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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 "e;Operating Philosophy"e; and "e;Human Computer Interface (HCI) Style Guide"e; for their own purposes within the constraints of their specific industry.

Textauszug

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 must be undertaken as a separate exercise by suitably qualified staff.
   3. B3  Review System Supporting Documents – Review any available literature on previous design attempts or retrofits on the specific plant concerned, in order to speed up an understanding of the key HF issues.
   4. B4  Supporting Documents – Review any generally available literature on similar control room designs in other industries.
3. C  Define HF Plan Structure
   1. C1  Setup HF Team – Set up an HF team appropriate to the industry and of a sufficiently small size that is manageable within the total design team. For example, choose HF experts and SMEs who are conversant and experienced with the technologies and HF issues pertinent to the design. Typically, for a large industrial Control Room or Warship design programme, 2–3 HF experts and 1–2 SMEs might be required. The SMEs would most likely be part of the system programme team anyway.
   2. C2  ID System SMEs – Select SMEs early in the design process since they are an essential component of design success. Their deployment ensures that systems are designed relevant to the tasks of the users and can bring an enormous amount of experience, thus short‐cutting the time taken to ‘cut‐to‐the‐chase’ in identifying the critical HF issues.
   3. C3  Define Key HF Tasks – Analyse only the essential operational tasks since Task Analysis can be very time consuming. These tasks should be agreed with the project team and should include those Mission Critical Tasks (MCTs) that impact system success, are regularly performed and have a high safety and user workload component. The following diagram shows the four key determinants of good system design: TOSE – Tasks that are achievable by Operators chosen and trained for the job, using an optimally designed System in a comfortable Environment (Figures 2.3, 2.4):

      Figure 2.3 Factors impacting human performance.

      Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

      Figure 2.4 Task ‐ operator ‐ system – environment.

      Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

   4. C4  Review Key Programme Milestones – Review the overall control room design schedule then identify where key HF activities should align with that schedule. Discuss this with the project team.
   5. C5  Align HF Plan to Main Programme – Ensure that key HF activities are identified early and addressed early in the overall programme schedule. A major factor in system design failure is not getting HF design inputs into the design early enough. Align HF tasks to main programme tasks.
   6. C6  Document Simple Draft HF Schedule – Document the aligned HF schedule with the main programme schedule and agree this with the project team.
   7. C7  Document Simple Final HF Schedule – Present the completed draft HF Plan to the Project Manager for review, agree key design aspects and document final HF schedule.
   8. C8  Set up Programme Single Point of Contact – Choose a single pro‐HF member of the overall project team who can represent the HF team fairly at major review meetings, open doors for access to key systems information and project personnel and ensure that HF design issues are thoroughly assessed throughout the programme.
4. D  Implement HF Plan – Conduct HF Tasks
   1. D1  Collect Data
      1. D1.1  Identify System Functions – Identify the main things the system must do, in layman’s terms, and create a super‐list of Mission Critical Functions (MCFs). For example:
         1. Power control and management;
         2. Fuel management;
         3. Fire alert status;
         4. CCTV monitoring;
         5. On‐line training;
         6. Built‐in test;etc.
      2. D1.2  Review Existing HF Inputs – Obtain access to previous HF design efforts and documentation that may assist in identifying critical HF issues or known problem areas.
      3. D1.3  Conduct Literature Search – Review design aspects from parallel industries, scrutinise safety data and identify future display and control technologies that might be relevant to downstream HCI and HMI designs.
      4. D1.4  Document Data Collection Output – Document all of the above findings, together with meetings, visits and actions arising, in the HF Plan.
5. D2  Conduct Task Analysis
   1. D2.1  Breakdown Functions into Activities – Identify the key functions of the system, for example, the key functions of a smart phone might include phone, contacts, mail, messages, camera, music etc., so it would make sense to have these functions immediately available on a top level page (as the iPhone does). Decompose the MCFs (Mission Critical Functions) down to activity level (Figure 2.5).

      Figure 2.5 Breakdown of functions down to actions.

      Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

      Decomposing further than ‘Activity’ level is likely to generate too much data and should only be done when such detail is vitally necessary. An example of what is meant by the terms Functions, Tasks, etc. is provided below for a High Pressure Salt Water (HPSW) system (Figure 2.6).

      Figure 2.6 Example of functional terms.

      Source: Reproduced with permission of Liveware HF Ltd.

      An ‘Action’ is the lowest level of human or machine capability such as operating a switch, detecting a target’s presence, making a simple decision or obeying a simple procedure. It is a case of inspecting the breakdown of functions and making a common sense judgement on the degree of decomposition and scrutiny required in order to effect good design. There are principally four major types of human skill in accomplishing an action:

      1. Psychomotor skill – muscle‐eye coordination, e.g. walking, hitting a ball, pressing a button;
      2. Cognitive skill – thinking, making a decision, e.g. decide to enter burning compartment;
      3. Procedural skill – pre‐learned response such as carrying out a set of Emergency Operating Procedures e.g. shut down main pump;
      4. Perceptual skill – sensing, e.g. observing a rise in temperature.
   2. D2.2  Break down Tasks into Key...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.3.2017
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Maschinenbau
• Schlagworte: Complementing • Control room design • Electrical & Electronics Engineering • Elektrotechnik u. Elektronik • Ergonomics • Human Factors • Human Factors & Risk Assessment • Human Performance • Manning • Maschinenbau • Maschinenbau - Entwurf • mechanical engineering • Mechanical Engineering - Design • Menschliche Faktoren u. Risikobewertung • Optimising workload • Reducing errors • task analysis • Training
• ISBN-10: 1-118-53566-9 / 1118535669
• ISBN-13: 978-1-118-53566-0 / 9781118535660