Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Central Control Room Operations - Tapa dura

... a fantastic book that shows what it takes to ensure support staff work and operate together, in a formal and efficient manner. The book integrates the topics of human factors and ergonomics to create an incredibly valuable tome. ... While the book was written primarily for control room settings, it is relevant for those in IT . ...If they have management support to deploy the formal methods detailed in the book, they will find that they can create significantly higher levels of customer and end-user satisfaction.
                                      --Ben Rothke, writing on slashdot.org, March 1, 2010

Whether used for aviation, manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, energy distribution, nuclear or fossil fuel power generation, surveillance or security, all control rooms share two common features. The people operating them are often remote from the processes that they are monitoring and controlling and the operations work 24/7. The twin demands of remote and continuous operation place special considerations on the design of central control rooms. Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Central Control Room Operations provides an analysis of Human Factors and Ergonomics in this complex area and the implications for control room staff. This information contained within this book can then be used to design, assessed and evaluate control rooms.

Taking an integrated approach to Human Factors and Ergonomics in the control room environment, the book presents fourteen human factors topics: competencies, training, procedures, communications, workload, automation, supervision, shift patterns, control room layout, SCADA interfaces, alarms, control room environment, human error, and safety culture. Although there are many resources available on each of these topics, this book the information together under one cover with a focus on central control room operations. Each chapter is self-contained and can be read in any order, as the information is required.