Coordination of I and C design with the obligatory consideration of human factors. A project management approach

Human Factors Engineering (HFE), like other engineering disciplines involved in plant design, cannot be considered retroactively. The engineering principles and methods derived from deep knowledge of the cognitive and perceptual capabilities and limitations of the plant's 'human element' are applied instead throughout plant design. Focusing HFE efforts on the plant's I and C, the plant's HMI is designed to ensure effective and error-free performance of the monitoring, control, and administrative tasks allocated to the control room crew. Generally speaking, a project's HFE program prescribes three main steps: (1) the analyses of plant monitoring and control functions in order to identify those to be performed manually (all others are performed automatically while still manually monitored) and determine in turn the HMI inventory of information displays, controls, alarms, and operating procedures required to support their performance, (2) the guided design of the plant's HMI, ensuring its compliance with HFE principles and the completeness and correctness of the task support it provides, and (3) the subsequent evaluation of operators performance, trained to follow the operating procedures and use the HMI referred to. The I and C systems designed to monitor and control the plant processes and implement, among other functions, the plant's HMI, are likely validated, governed by I and C norms and the project's V and V guidelines. Past experience shows that the three following obligatory steps pose challenges to project execution: (1) the acquisition and analysis of the multidisciplinary functional requirements (related to plant monitoring and control); (2) the likely interdisciplinary analysis whether and how fulfillment of these requirements shall be allocated to I and C automation systems or operators (or both), and (3) the HFE-guided HMI design and validation. A timely and cost-effective application of HFE to I and C engineering can be achieved by adequate planning and project management. This paper aims to summarize some of our experiences. (author)