Emerson’s Tim Olsen pointed me to a great PTQ article, Operator performance advances enable safer operations, that he and User Centered Design Service’s David Lee wrote.

In their article, they highlight the relevant industry standards to enable optimum levels of operator performance in manufacturing and production facilities. The focus is on the operator displays, ergonomics, and alarm management.

The first recommendation is on the information presented by the automation system to plant operators.

A good practice when considering alarm management and HMI graphics is that ‘less is more’. The focus for alarm management should be quality alarms without duplication rather than quantity of alarms.

Information in the human-machine interface (HMI) graphic should be structured in levels with increasing detail.

Similar to HMI graphics, when considering level 1 process area overviews and level 2 process unit control information to be displayed, consider only information the console operator uses to evaluate the plant performance quickly and effectively (not all information available needs to be shown on the main graphics). It is still good to identify a problem within level 1 and 2 graphics and where to go to get more details (level 3 process unit details and level 4 process unit support and diagnostics).

They use the analogy of a car dashboard, which presents only the information needed to drive the car. If an abnormal situation occurs, such as low tire pressure, an alert is displayed. The dashboard does not continuously display tire pressure readings because this information is only essential if the pressure is out of range.

Tim and David cite many important standards to support good design and maintain effective operator performance. For control rooms, these include:

• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 11064 control room standard for the lifecycle of control room design
• ISO 9241 for detailed physical ergonomics of the operator workstation
• Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association (EEMUA) 201 for control room specification, design, commissioning, and operation.
• API Recommended Practice (RP) 1113 for pipeline control room design.

For HMIs, these include:

• ANSI/ISA-101.01 and equivalent IEC 63303 for requirements and recommendations for activities in each stage of the lifecycle, including designing, using, and maintaining the HMI system.
• API RP 1165 for Pipeline Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Displays
• ISA TR101.02 HMI Usability and Performance for the entire HMI from system standards and design through implementation, operation, maintenance, and continuous improvement.

From an alarm management perspective, these include:

• ANSI/ISA-18.02 and equivalent IEC 62682 for the management of alarm systems for the process industries
• EEMUA 191 for alarm system design, management, and procurement

From an operator performance standpoint, an important standard is ANSI/API RP-755, which addresses fatigue risk management systems for personnel in the refining and petrochemical industries.

You’ll want to read the article for more on each of these essential standards, guidelines, and practices. Improved operator performance leads to safer operations, reduced downtime, and enhanced operational efficiency.

Tim and David conclude:

Manufacturers are realizing the importance of operator performance initiatives to improve safety and reliability by mitigating human error. Updates to industry standards and sharing of these good practices enable the opportunity to improve operator situational awareness. Manufacturers should align their practices with industry standards and recommendations and develop a sustainable lifecycle for key aspects that impact operator performance in the long term.

Visit the DeltaV AgileOps page for more information on specific ways to improve alarm management practices, and DeltaV Live for the most advanced and intuitive DCS HMI information. Refer to the links above for each of the standards.