Services

Human Factors expertise for safer operations

These are our main services. We also work with UX design, training and courses, tacit knowledge, standardisation, product and service design, and work environment assessments. Get in touch and we'll help you create products and services that are safe, efficient and easy to use.

01 · Control Room Design

Control rooms and control centres built on ISO 11064

“If you think Human Factors is expensive, try an accident.”

Whether you are building a new control room (CR), centralising several control rooms into one central control room (CCR) or upgrading an existing one, safe, efficient and reliable operation is now the top priority for operators and authorities alike. Operators play a critical role in monitoring, supervising and running complex automated systems, and as automation has grown, so have the consequences of equipment and human failures.

A wrong action in a CR or CCR can be devastating, which is why Human Factors is a vital part of designing and evaluating control rooms. We help you avoid designing “beautiful” errors. An attractive control room is not always a functional one. Functionality comes from human-centred design that involves the end users: operators, shift supervisors, maintenance staff, DCS suppliers and third-party consultants.

Industrial incident illustrating the cost of human error
Control room design brochure cover

Download our brochure

Control room design with ISO-standard solutions from a Human Factors perspective.

Get the brochure

Which standard should you use?

Many control room standards are used across industries, including ISO 11064, NORSOK S-002, EEMUA 201, NUREG, CRIOP, ANSI/HFES 100 and HSG48. There are also company standards and guidelines, plus national regulations to consider.

ISO 11064 is the most complete and widely accepted of them. Its seven parts cover the central control room, control suite, control room, workstation design, displays, work environment, and validation and verification. Its aim is good working conditions for human safety, health and wellbeing, while keeping technology and costs efficient.

Watch: we explain ISO 11064 and how it is used in control room design.
Part 1Principles for the design of control centres

Nine principles: human-centred design, ergonomics in engineering practice, improvement through iteration, situational analysis, task analysis, error-tolerant systems, user participation, an interdisciplinary design team, and documenting the ergonomic design basis.

Its framework for an ergonomic design process is probably the most important part: clarification (data gathering), analysis and definition, conceptual design (such as 2D or 3D design), detailed design, and operational feedback, with end users involved at every stage.

Part 2Principles for the arrangement of control suites
Defines the starting point for laying out a control suite: system functions, allocation of functions to operators or equipment, job definitions (job rotation, training level), work tasks and their relationships, frequency and workload, and a preliminary description of the equipment.
Part 3Control room layout
Ergonomic principles for control room layouts, workstation arrangements, off-workstation displays and maintenance. It covers all types of control centre, from the process industry to transport and emergency dispatch. Many of its principles also apply to mobile centres on ships and aircraft.
Part 4Layout and dimensions of workstations
Principles, recommendations and requirements for control workstations, with emphasis on layout and dimensions. It applies mainly to seated, display-based workstations, but standing workstations are covered too.
Part 5Displays and controls
Principles, requirements and recommendations for displays and controls, and how they work together, in control centre hardware and software.
Part 6Environmental requirements for control rooms
Requirements for the thermal environment, air quality, lighting, acoustics, vibration, aesthetics and interior design, whether you are designing, upgrading or refurbishing.
Part 7Principles for the evaluation of control centres
Requirements and guidelines for evaluating each element of a control centre: control suite, control room, workstations, displays and controls, and work environment.
02 · Human Machine Interaction

HMIs that help operators make the right decisions

“A poor HMI is often a source of incidents in the industrial world.”

Humans and machines interact through displays and controls. HMI is usually short for Human Machine Interface. We use the broader term Human Machine Interaction, whether screens or physical controls are involved.

An HMI is the set of screens, graphics and other technology operators use to monitor and work with control systems such as DCS or SCADA. Poor HMIs were named as a significant contributing factor in the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion. A good HMI makes the use of displays and controls safe, reliable, efficient and comfortable, especially in abnormal situations.

How we can help

Whether you need a complete HMI philosophy with standards and toolkits, or small changes to existing interfaces, we simplify the communication between operator and equipment and improve efficiency and job satisfaction along the way.

  1. Data acquisition & context mapping
  2. Conceptual design development
  3. Design specification
  4. HMI design implementation
  5. Implementation follow-up
Texas City refinery explosion, 2005
03 · Alarm Management

Alarms worth the operator's attention

“Alarm floods are a well-known, significant contributing cause of industrial incidents.”

Alarm management matters wherever human response to an alarm is relied on to control major accident hazards, from small storage sites to plants with a central control room and a full DCS. The principle is the same everywhere: make sure people respond correctly to alarms, through good interface and system design, monitoring and review, competence and procedures.

Alarm systems are used in chemical manufacturing, power generation, oil and gas, rail and transport, nuclear and more. The US Chemical Safety Board names alarm floods as a significant contributing cause of industrial incidents (Beebe et al., 2012).

Standards and the alarm lifecycle

Two standards dominate alarm management: ANSI/ISA-18.2 (Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries) and EEMUA 191 (Alarm Systems: a Guide to Design, Management and Procurement).

The ISA-18.2 lifecycle usually starts with an alarm philosophy. It continues with identification, rationalisation, detailed design, implementation, operation, maintenance, monitoring and assessment, management of change, and audit.

ANSI/ISA-18.2 alarm management lifecycle
04 · Function & Tasks

Allocating work between people and automation

Function and task analysis should be carried out and documented to identify ergonomic needs, such as involvement, analysis and the solutions needed to reach the goals.

It supports an integrated design for your central control room by helping you:

  • Define system performance
  • Allocate functions to humans or machines (automation)
  • Define task requirements
  • Design the job organisation
  • Verify and validate the results
Function and task analysis diagram
05 · Workload & Workflow

Work systems that fit human capabilities

“Defining workload and workflow often reduces human error.”

The goal is a work system that matches human capabilities, limitations and needs. When designing jobs and work organisation, identify the lines of communication (internal and external), interactions between people, work permits, and who does what in an abnormal situation.

Shift handover and night shifts matter too. Our circadian rhythm means that at night it takes longer to refocus during an abnormal situation. Moving some tasks from the night shift to the day shift can help prevent incidents.

How we can help

We map the workload and workflow of each operator, involving all end users.

  • Task allocation: dividing work tasks between operators and systems
  • Task zones: combining each task with its space and location requirements
  • Work space: the space one or more people need to complete a task
Operators of different ages working at shared consoles in a control room with large overview screens
06 · CR / CCR Risk Assessment

Identify risk, evaluate risk, make an action plan

Operators at their consoles in a control room with large process overview screens

Control room operations have changed. Industrial companies are centralising several control rooms into one central control room, automation has matured and costs must come down. More automation often means fewer staff, and operators have moved from running the plant to observing and analysing it. That calls for a new approach to risk management.

In a central control room, operators lose much of their ability to see, hear, feel (such as temperature or vibration) and smell what is happening in the plant. Instead they rely on technology and on other people to interpret the situation. Tacit knowledge, which is hard to transfer from senior to junior operators, must not be lost along the way. Noise from communication and alarms, and how abnormal situations are handled, also need careful assessment.

How we can help

Centralisation often moves functions from operators to the DCS and may create or remove tasks. We identify and evaluate these risks and create an action plan, often using a scenario-based method. Risk assessment is preventive work that reduces human error in your future control room.

Project plans

Which plan fits your project?

We offer pre-studies for control room and control centre design from a Human Factors perspective, with the operator in focus. Pick the plan you think you need. We can always adjust it as the project develops.

Small

For small upgrades or a simple control room design.

~70 hours
  • Design support
  • Review of your collected data
  • 3 design iterations
  • Design evaluation
Request Small plan
Full ISO 11064

Medium

The complete ISO 11064 design process, with HF support all the way.

~175 hours
  • ISO 11064 five-step process
  • CCR design & control suite
  • Control room & workstations
  • Displays
  • Work environment
Request Medium plan

Large

Everything in Medium, plus a full documented Human Factors report.

~260 hours
  • Everything in Medium
  • Human Factors report
  • On-site data collection
  • Interviews, workshops & observation
  • Recommendations for further studies
Request Large plan
Small planWhat's included?
This plan suits a small upgrade or a simple control room design. Your company usually collects the data (drawings, functions and tasks, photos) itself. We join the design process with a CR/CCR designer to produce a vision (3D drawings) for presentation. Three iterations fine-tune the final design, and we support the designer during conceptual design.
Medium planWhat's included?
Medium covers the full ISO 11064 design process in five steps: clarification, analysis, conceptual design, detailed design and iteration (operational feedback). Management and operators are involved in the control room layout, so the design meets operators' needs through a holistic, human-centred approach. This plan does not include a written Human Factors report, but a Human Factors specialist takes part throughout.
Large planWhat's included?
Large includes everything in Medium plus a Human Factors report documenting each iteration: standards and guidelines, design methods, project requirements, observations and recommendations based on ISO 11064, results, environmental requirements, equipment list, recommendations for further studies, and an appendix with the questionnaire used. It requires an on-site visit for data collection through questionnaires, interviews, workshops, focus groups and observation.
Request a plan

Let's scope your project

All plan hours are estimates. We can always adjust them to fit your project, and we're happy to help you work out an accurate schedule for your CR/CCR project.

  • Identify the need
  • Create the requirements
  • Meet those requirements

We'll get back to you as soon as possible.