Control Room Design, LLC

HUMAN FACTORS/ERGONOMICS: our planning and ergonomic studies include: site requirement studies; blast radius studies if/as required; personnel, task and operational analysis; traffic flow and adjacency studies; unit-to-console arrangement flow diagrams and planning; console layout and accessory planning; emergency equipment plannning; glare & reflection studies; and detailed lighting design and fixture specification.

Whereas the process of a refinery follows a prescribed flow, so should the location and adjacencies of the consoles. Widely accepted ergonomic practice is to have the consoles positioned for left-to-right flow of the process, with closely related process units situated within a sector, or close grouping of consoles. Consoles controlling units such as Utilities, Oil Movements, SRU, etc. can normally reside in non-adjacent locations.

An often overlooked human factors issue is positioning of the consoles in the control room, with respect to the process units under control. The above illustration shows an example of how a centrally located control room situates the consoles in a 'forward-facing' orientation to the units. Mirror-imaging errors can be caused by having the operators with their backs-to-the-process.

The consoles must provide: appropriate number and positioning of screens and keyboards; legible and understandible graphics; immediate access to communication handsets; plenty of clear workspace for paperwork; and complete control over individual levels of lighting.