All at sea: An ergonomic analysis of oil production platform control rooms

• The survey covers approximately a third of all North Sea oil production platform control rooms.
• Many new developments have occurred since the Piper Alpha disaster and the situation off-shore is compared to that on-shore.
• New control room technology requires adaptation by the human operators and the extent of adaptation is revealed.
• Despite objective differences in the physical control room environment operators remain broadly content.
• Alarms remain a significant concern as does the availability of materials to help operators diagnose non-routine states.

Control rooms on offshore production platforms are the focal point for their safe and efficient operation. Following the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 a sizeable body of safety literature was generated covering the Ergonomic/Human Factors issues then in play. More than twenty years have passed since that time and significant changes have occurred to how control rooms are manned and the technology now in use. As the North Sea oil industry in the UK enters a new phase in its life cycle, and becomes subject to unprecedented production and cost pressures, it is time to revisit these issues. This paper reports on a high-level ergonomic survey covering approximately a third of all North Sea control rooms. The focus is on the adaptive capacity of the highly experienced control room operators and the current challenges to that capacity. Areas of concern include the support provided for dealing with non-routine events, the persistent issue of ‘alarm overload’, the flexibility and control of current SCADA systems, the use of control rooms for non-related tasks, and the possible role of non-technical skills training.Relevance to industryA high-level control room survey covering a third of all North Sea oil production platforms is presented. Control rooms have co-evolved with their highly experienced users and care needs to be taken in how ergonomic issues are tackled. The survey reveals persistent issues around alarms, the support provided to operators in non-routine and emergency situations, and the use of the control room as a focal point for non-control room activities.