Evaluating control room interface design and automation in petrochemical operations

Console operators are responsible for much of the safety and productivity of petrochemical facilities through continuous monitoring and mitigation of potential issues. These critical activities happen through complex human machine interfaces (HMIs), and recent studies suggest that the current interfaces in use are not supportive enough to inform console operators of potential issues. The current research sought to identify current industry practices in interface displays and describe their limitations based on human factors research and models. The research team visited three refineries with different distributed control systems (DCS) implementations to evaluate the current state of HMIs. During each visit, researchers evaluated the current HMIs and interviewed console operators about the usability of the current interfaces. No system reviewed assisted the controller's decision-making process. Instead, the systems only provided the console operator data that they are expected to integrate to make a decision. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the current state of HMIs found during the petrochemical facility visits and outline the limitations of current HMIs by comparing the console operator activities with the levels of automation that the HMIs provide.