The Role of Control Room Operators

Andrew Brazier
Principal consultant
Entec UK Ltd.
Gadbrook Business Park
Northwich, Cheshire CW9 7TN
01606 354866
andrew.brazier@entecuk.co.uk
www.entecuk.com
Creating the environment for business
 Contents

 What do control room operators do (in reality)

 Ensuring they are able to perform their critical task
reliably
 Ensuring their well-being
 The impact of automation
 The HSE/Entec Staffing assessment methodology

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Changes in the Control Room

 New technology
 More automation
 Less people
 More remote
 A different job
– More passive
– More lonely
– More responsibility.

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 What do Control Room Operators do?
 Normal Situations
– Communication - face to face including Handovers
– Other communication - radio/telephone
– Administrative Tasks
– Eat meals
– Issue permits-to-work
– Training
 Emergency situations
– Raise the alarm
– Notify emergency services
– Co-ordinate communication
– Keep the log
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 HSE concerns

 The ‘physical’ ability to detect, diagnose and recover

from scenario’s in time to prevent accidents
 Willingness to initiate scenario recovery actions
 Training, development, roles & responsibilities
 Teamworking and the role of support staff outside of
the ‘normal’ team
 Management of organisational change
 Management of safety
Entec commissioned in 1997 to develop a method for
assessing the adequacy of staffing arrangements
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Focus on Emergency and ‘Upset’ Scenarios
= the worst case
 Requires early detection
– searching, reading and monitoring displays
– hearing alarms
 Diagnosis needs to be accurate
– consulting documents & colleagues
– thinking
 Response needs to be efficient and effective
– using controls (in the field, in the control room)
– raising the alarm & mobilising emergency services
 Working effectively under time pressure, threat of
harm in an unfamiliar situation

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Specification of the staffing assessment method
• Support duty holders in obligations to assess & manage risks
• Focus on loss of containment events with off-site potential
• Bring staffing issues into the open
• Be valid for the operational circumstances found in the
chemical and allied industries
• Enable duty holders to obtain a clear cut indication of
whether their staffing arrangements are unsafe
• Gauge the impact of staffing changes prior to implementation
• Practical, useable & intelligible to duty holders & inspectors;
− Not reliant on specialist skills
• Be structured and auditable;
• Facilitate dialogue between duty holders & inspectors.
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 Assessment Methodology
 PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT  LADDER ASSESSMENT

YES NO

YES NO

– Decision trees – Individual and organisational factors

 Method does not attempt to calculate a minimum or optimum number of staff

 There may be technological options to improve staffing arrangements as an alternative to
an increase in operator numbers
 It assesses staffing numbers plus how the arrangements are managed

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 Carrying out an assessment

 Workshops - similar to HAZOP

 Methodology provides a framework for discussion
 Assessment team consists of
– Facilitator
– Scribe
– Task experts (operators)
 Report is the team’s assessment
 Prioritised actions

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 Assessing Changes to Staffing
Arrangements

 Conduct baseline assessment of existing

arrangements
 Evaluate impact of planned changes
 Implement the change
 Ongoing review and continuous improvement

Staffing assessment does not replace the need for robust

systems for managing organisational change

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Common themes (usually unrelated to
changes taking place)

 Over reliance on informal training

 Inadequate refresher training
 Too many distractions in control rooms
– Nuisance alarms
– Visitors, contractors, day staff
 No control on shift swaps, overtime etc.
 Very passive approach to stress and fatigue
 Poor management of the safety implications of
organisational change (including staffing levels)

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Psychological Wellbeing of Control Room
Operators

 Allocation of function
 Perception that work is meaningful and satisfying
 Relationship with other people
 Relationship with equipment

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 Man against the machine

 Humans are better at  Machines are better at

– Detecting small visual or
acoustic signals
– Perceiving patterns
– Improvising
– Being flexible in approach
– Exercising judgement
– Responding quickly to control
signals
– Applying force smoothly and
precisely
– Performing repetitive tasks
– Handling highly complex
situations

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 Nature of the Control Room Job

Features that make a job The Modern CRO

satisfying
Skill variety Lots of monitoring, not much
action
Task significance Lots of automation - CRO
responds when things go wrong
Task identity CRO responsible for large
number of plants/systems
Autonomy Minimal - working to very tight
specifications
Task feedback Aim is to avoid upsets and
incidents

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 When Designing Automated Systems Do
You?
 Identify the benefits of automating specific functions?
 Ensure the automatic system functions correctly in
normal and abnormal situations?
 Train operators to use the systems in normal and
abnormal situations?
 Consider technical and human aspects as a single,
integrated system?
 Assess the impact on human performance of
implementing automation?
 Assess the potential psychological impact?

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 Conclusions

 Control Room Operator job has changed

 Operating is more passive - but operators do a lot
more than just operate
 HSE have concerns that changes are being poorly
managed
 Staffing Assessment Methodology proven useful for
bringing issues into the open and identifying practical
solutions
 Psychological well-being is also important
 Staffing Assessment for automated plant

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 References

 HSE Contract Research Report

CRR 348/2001
– www.hse.gov.uk/research/crr_pdf/2001/crr01348.pdf
 Energy Institute User Guide
– www.energyinst.org.uk/humanfactors/staffing

Creating the environment for business