Measuring the Impact of Console Operator Experience in a Simulated Petrochemical Refining Emergency Event. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Silva, Hector I.; Grigoleit, Tristan; Ann Burress, Mary; Fitzpatrick, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting. Volume 61:Part 1(2017)
• Page Start: 527
• Page End: 531
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: Human engineering -- Congresses; 620.8205
• DOI: 10.1177/1541931213601616
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1541-9312

Abstract

Critical process industries such as petrochemical refining have actively sought to make their operations safer and more efficient. In doing this, the industry has found success in automating systems. However, increasing levels of automation is known to have some negative effects on the human operator (Kaber & Endsley, 1997). Consequently, operators have had less opportunity to be exposed to and engage in managing emergency events due to reliable automation. The current investigation explores the role that console operator experience has in the management of emergency events and in the maintenance of situation awareness within the petrochemical industry. Incumbent Console Operators completed several trials of a simulated emergency event where prior exposure to the live event, performance, workload, and situation awareness metrics were collected. The results suggest that experience with managing the live event had little effect on the collected metrics. The potential implications of these results are discussed.