Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice
Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice
Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice
Ebook1,111 pages139 hours

Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice is a comprehensive overview of human factors within this sector, focusing on the practical application. It has been written by acknowledged industry experts from the Keil Centre, which is a leading practice of chartered ergonomics and human factors specialists, chartered safety specialists, registered occupational psychologists, and registered clinical psychologists

The book was inspired by the international human factors training course run by the Keil Centre with the IChemE(http://www.icheme.org/human-factors), which has reached four continents across the world. The book is written for those who want a comprehensive overview of the subject, focusing on the practical application of human factors. It has been written for safety professionals, engineers and operational disciplines within industry, and those aspiring to these disciplines, who either deal with human factors issues or any aspect of the ‘human element’ in their core role.

The book explains what ‘human factors’ is about and how human factors issues are best managed from a practical perspective. It will help readers develop a greater understanding of the area and how to establish more effective solutions for human factors related issues.

  • Provides comprehensive coverage of the most relevant human factors within this sector, with succinct overviews of each topic
  • Uses case studies and practical examples to illustrate topics and explains the material in a fully accessible, easy to understand style
  • Written by a single team of eleven industry practitioners, drawing on the combined expertise of different human factors specialisms which are rarely comprehensively combined in a single resource
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 17, 2016
ISBN9780128038789
Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries: Making it Work in Practice

Related to Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries

Related ebooks

Industrial Engineering For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries - Janette Edmonds

    www.bawarchitecture.com.

    Section I

    Introduction to human factors within the chemical and process industries

    Outline

    Chapter 1 What is human factors?

    Chapter 2 What part does human factors play within chemical and process industries?

    Chapter 3 Review of common human vulnerabilities and contributions to past accidents

    Chapter 4 Current regulatory and government focus on human factors

    Chapter 5 Management frameworks for human factors

    Chapter 1

    What is human factors?

    J. Edmonds

    Abstract

    The human aspects of a work system differ quite considerably from the engineering elements. Humans can be quite variable in terms of their capabilities and limitations, and it is not always easy to predict or preempt how humans may behave. The human element, nevertheless, is an essential, beneficial, and integral aspect of the work system. Human factors is primarily concerned with optimizing system, and health and safety performance. It is based on scientific knowledge about humans, which is then applied, using robust tools and techniques. It is concerned with the development of all aspects of the system that influence human performance, including the work tasks, tools and equipment, workspace, work environment, and the organizational structures.

    Keywords

    Human element; work system; human sciences; performance; health and safety

    List of Abbreviations

    PPE Personal Protective Equipment

    Despite significant technological developments and investment within the chemical and process industries, systems do not always work or function as effectively as planned. More often than not this can be attributed to the failure to consider human interactions or because inaccurate assumptions are made about how people will behave. At best this is inconvenient, at worst it is catastrophic. There is therefore a fundamental need to recognize that people are at the heart of any system, even the most highly automated of systems.

    Human beings differ quite considerably from the hardware, software, or chemical elements. Nevertheless, the human is an essential, beneficial, and integral aspect of the work system and needs to be effectively considered and defined. It is therefore important to understand the context and the interfaces within the work system where human interactions occur. Within this chapter, and indeed the book, the term system includes all the technical engineering (chemical, software, and hardware) and human aspects.

    The primary focus of human factors is to optimize health, safety, and performance and is undertaken by focusing specifically on the human interactions that occur within a work system. This chapter intends to provide a definition of its scope and application.

    Humans vary considerably in their capabilities and limitations. It is not always easy to predict or preempt how they may behave. However, a large body of human science-based knowledge has developed over several decades, which helps understand and preempt how human interactions may occur. Using this knowledge to understand the specific work system context enables optimization of the design of systems and processes that depend on human interaction.

    The application of human factors knowledge may be predictive, such as when designing a new system. It may also be used to understand and optimize existing systems of work. In either case, human factors provides the key to unlock many of these unknowns to provide a suitable solution.

    The Work System

    The work system, as referred to in this book, relates to the complete work context. This could be, a hospital, an oil refinery, an airport, or any other workplace with its various functions, infrastructure, work areas, equipment, and importantly, the people who work in it, maintain it, support it, and so on.

    The work system has a particular purpose, and various functions are performed within the work system to meet the objective of the system goal. An offshore oil installation, for example, has the purpose of extracting crude oil. Its functions include drilling and well construction, production, with its incumbent processes, such as separation, compression, heating/cooling, and export to a terminal where other work systems take over. There will be other functions that enable the primary purpose to be accomplished.

    At the start of developing a new work system, it does not actually exist. It is merely a concept. It will then go through three distinct phases:

     Design: where it is conceptualized, designed, developed, and built;

     Operation: where it performs the function it was designed to perform;

     Decommissioning: where it is taken back to its starting point where it no longer exists as a system (Fig. 1.1).

    Figure 1.1 Work system phases.

    The definition is simplistic and the boundaries between the phases do in reality overlap with each other as the system continues to dynamically evolve through the operational phase. This means that it is important for human factors to remain a core consideration to ensure continued health, safety, and performance during the evolution.

    Within the work system, most functions require the people within it to use the inanimate machine aspects, such as hardware and software to achieve the functional goal. Different roles perform different tasks and interact with different interfaces within the system (including other roles) but ultimately the tasks are undertaken to achieve the system goal.

    Human factors applies to any and all aspects of the work system where there are human interactions. It also applies to all work system phases. Ideally, much of the effort in preempting the human interactions for operations and decommissioning will occur within the design phase to avoid issues at a later date. There is a more in-depth discussion about human factors in design and engineering in Section III, Human Factors Within Design and Engineering.

    Humans within the Work System

    Within the work system, there are human interactions that are essential for the system goal to be achieved. These are illustrated in Fig. 1.2 and this is intended to act as a framework to illustrate how people interact with various elements of a work system, including other people within that system.

    Figure 1.2 Human interactions within the work system.

    The different types of human interactions within the work system are described in more detail as follows:

    Work tasks: the work system requires certain functions to be performed. They are typically subdivided and allocated either to the machine, the human, or both (dependent on the level of automation). The human tasks related to the system functions are typically grouped into different job roles, such as an operator, maintainer, and so on. The performance of these tasks will include physical (or manual) elements as well as cognitive elements (the psychological aspects of the task). Human factors is applied to each of these aspects of task and work design. There is a need to achieve an optimal allocation of functions between the human and the machine, and appropriate design and grouping of tasks for different job roles. The purpose is to ensure the tasks are achievable, cohesive, and within the limitations and capabilities of the people undertaking them.

    Work tools and equipment: work tools and equipment are used by people to achieve their tasks. Even in more primitive times, people developed and used tools to achieve their goals and it is one of the aspects that separate human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom. Tools and equipment can take many forms, from a simple spanner, through to a complex control system, even including the written procedures and signs that people use or refer to. Work tools and equipment have become increasingly complex and technologically advanced. However, it is important to recognize that humans have not evolved at the same pace. This means that tools and equipment must be designed to meet the needs of the end user, whilst taking account of their capabilities and limitations. Otherwise, there is potential to induce human failure. If the human fails, there is potential for the system performance to be adversely affected.

    Workspaces and work areas: physical space is allocated and designed to provide the area for humans to perform their tasks. There is the immediate workspace or workstation where a person or people perform their tasks, and there is a wider work area that accommodates a multitude of work and machine/equipment spaces. The immediate workspace could, for example, be the cockpit of a crane, a controller’s console, or a work bench. The wider work area may be a plant area, a workshop, a factory floor, or a control building. For a workspace or workstation to be effective, it needs to be designed to support the tasks that are performed and provide the right amount of space for the human to fit within and access and use the equipment. There are two basic physical space needs; the person needs to have sufficient clearance (space around them), and be able to reach and see the equipment interfaces in a posture that is least likely to injure them. This is relatively simple if it is a tailor-made design for an individual, but workspaces need to accommodate a variety of users of different sizes and shapes, sometimes with additional space needs (such as wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), or performing larger physical movements). In addition to physical accommodation, the workspace needs to support the functionality required which means that the layout and arrangement of the space must be optimized. Likewise, the wider work area also needs to optimize task performance and provide the optimal amount of space.

    Environmental context: the most common environmental considerations within the scope of human factors are noise; vibration; thermal comfort; and lighting, although inherent hazards, such as chemicals, hot or cold surfaces, and other hazards may also be included within this category. There are two aspects that are considered; protecting people from the adverse effects of the environmental conditions, and designing the environmental conditions to enhance performance. The environmental context can have negative effects on the physical and psychological capability, and well-being.

    Noise has potential to cause permanent hearing loss, but it is important to ensure that the acoustic environment is conducive to performing the relevant auditory/verbal tasks. This might include responding to auditory signals and equipment communications, as well as human to human communications.

    Vibration has different effects on the body at different frequencies and amplitudes and there is a limited physical tolerance before injury occurs. The task performance can also be affected. Although the main emphasis is to protect people from vibration, it can be used within design to provide information, for example, in the form of vibrotactile feedback.

    Temperature—thermoregulation is the biological mechanism which maintains the internal body temperature at 36.8°C. There is a small tolerance range before impairment and death occur. Thermal comfort is achieved where there is a balance between the external thermal environment and the internal thermal processes. It is affected by ambient temperature (air temperature and radiant temperature), air movement, humidity, human physical activity, and insulation of the body through clothing. In the work system, there is a need to protect the human from thermal conditions that can place an excessive demand on thermoregulation, but also to design the thermal environment to achieve thermal comfort and thereby enhance physical and mental performance.

    Light is required to enable humans to perform visual tasks in the work environment. The lighting design requirements are dependent on the tasks that need to be achieved whilst ensuring that adverse lighting conditions, such as glare and reflection are avoided. The lighting environment is affected by the uniformity and type of light (artificial and natural), the level of illumination, the eyesight of the human, the reflectance of light from work surfaces and a number of other factors.

    Organizational context: within a work system there are a number of people performing a multitude of different job roles who work to certain work patterns. They form an organizational structure, which develops its own culture, with implicit and explicit ways of working. These factors have a strong influence on human behavior, motivation, and performance. The organizational factors discussed in this book are not an exhaustive presentation of organizational factors, but represent key aspects affecting organizational performance and safety. The organizational factors include:

    Organizational culture: groups of people develop their own culture with shared attitudes, beliefs, and ways of behaving. A safe culture is one where safety is a core value. There are several elements that positively or negatively affect culture and these elements can be identified, measured, and developed to improve and mature the safety culture.

    Management of organizational change: change is an inevitable aspect of any organization. However, mismanaged change can adversely impact behavior, the ability to perform jobs, and the well-being of the individuals and teams involved. Well-managed organizational change can have a positive impact on safety and avoid poorly managed risks.

    Staffing and workload: staffing is concerned with having the optimal number and type of people to perform tasks in all operational scenarios, at all levels of the organization. People perform at their best when workload is optimal, not too much or too little, and when it is evenly shared between roles within a team. The people selected to perform job roles need to have the right knowledge, skills and attitudes, and maintain the required level of competence through training and experience. Supervisors have a key role in maintaining high standards of performance and safe behavior and require specific leadership capabilities to enable this to happen.

    Safety critical communication: there are many and various communications that occur within an organization; some more critical than others. The methods of communication between the transmitter(s) and receiver(s) of information can affect the reliability of the communication. Particular areas of communication vulnerability, such as shift handover and permit to work systems, are heavily reliant on good communication and are key factors that can affect safe performance.

    Fatigue: sleep is a basic biological need. The way shifts and work hours are organized can impact sleep opportunity, and adversely affect human performance. Hours of work, sleeping conditions, and certain tasks and environments can exacerbate the effects of fatigue, and ultimately performance.

    Psychological well-being: there are common organizational factors which can lead to chronic or acute stress. There is a need to manage these factors to avoid mental ill health and to maintain safe behaviors and performance.

    The human factors within the work system are not independent of each other. For example, a glare issue caused by poor lighting design may be resolved by a rearrangement of the workspace layout. Equipment interface design can be compromised if the work layout is poor. The organizational context sets up the behavior and motivations of people in their interactions with equipment.

    The humans within the work system (also known as the sociotechnical system) represent a complex web of interactions with all aspects of the system, whether it is an interaction with the machine elements or other people. Human factors is about understanding how all of these factors individually and collectively interact to influence human performance, and provide the opportunity to optimize system performance.

    Scientific Background

    The human being is itself a system in its own right and it is the job of the human scientist to provide the applied knowledge about how humans work to enable the work system to be designed accordingly. Human factors draws on both the psychological and physical human sciences, and is used to understand human capabilities and limitations.

    Psychology: two main areas of psychology feature heavily in human factors: cognitive psychology and organizational psychology. Cognitive psychology is focused on how people process information received through the senses, how it is perceived, how the memory works, how decisions are made, and then factors affecting performance of actions. Organizational psychology is the study of people in groups and organizations, and includes topics such as motivation, team work, group dynamics, psychological well-being, and job design. Clinical psychology features in relation to the treatment of people with psychological ill health, and developing resilience.

    Physiology: physiology is concerned with the biological processes of the body, particularly in relation to physical work, including physical endurance and work capacity, thermoregulation, strength, and movement control. It also includes biological processes, such as circadian rhythms which have an influence on restorative functions, that is, sleep, and levels of alertness.

    Anatomy and biomechanics: anatomy and biomechanics are used to understand the musculoskeletal system, and functions including static and dynamic posture, balance, and movement dynamics. It includes knowledge about how to optimize musculoskeletal performance and avoid injury.

    Anthropometry: anthropometry is the study of body size. Every person has a unique dimensional profile but each dimension, such as stature, arm length, and torso girth, aligns with a normal distribution for a population. This means that there will be few people at the extreme smaller and larger ends of the size range with a bell-shaped distribution curve for dimensions in between, as shown in Fig. 1.3.

    Figure 1.3 Normal distribution for body dimensions.

    Different dimensions are used for different purposes. For example, if there is a need to determine seat height, the popliteal range (back of the knee to the floor) is used. The vertical position of a visual display needs to be determined using either the sitting or standing eye height as the basic reference point. There are static and dynamic body size dimensions, where static is the dimension measurement taken in a static posture. Dynamic measurements take account of the movement of body members. Anthropometry is used to accommodate as wide a range of people in the end user population as possible. It is typically focused on the limiting user, so for clearance, there is benefit in designing for the largest person by using more than the 95th or preferably 99th percentile dimension so that smaller people also have sufficient space. For reach, the limiting user is the smallest, using say the 5th percentile functional grip reach dimension. By designing to this person, everyone with a longer grip reach can also reach the item. There is often benefit in incorporating an adjustable range, in which case, the 5–95th percentile range (or more) would be used. This is relatively simple for a single dimension, but more complex when there are several dimensions to accommodate.

    Scientific Approach

    It is necessary to understand the human interactions within the specific work context to direct the application of the most relevant scientific information for the system. There are many tools and techniques to support this process throughout the system lifecycle, from analyzing the tasks required, through to testing the human interaction. Tools and techniques are described throughout the book as relevant to the subject area being discussed but the following small, nonexhaustive list is presented as an illustration:

     Task analysis is used to understand and aid the design of tasks;

     Link analysis is used to understand human interactions (e.g., role to role and role to equipment);

     Human reliability analysis is used to understand how humans may fail and reduce the risk of human failure;

     Workload analysis is used to assess a person’s ability to manage the amount of work being demanded of them;

     Staffing assessment is used to determine the type and numbers of people required within the system;

     Training needs analysis is used to determine skill gaps and support the identification of the optimal means to reduce the training gap.

    The scientific approach may also include calculation, such as anthropometric or visual angle/distance calculations to determine workstation dimensions and equipment positioning. It may also include a combination of tools and techniques for performance measurement, such as would be used during user trials and

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1