2008 - Gas onshore processing

As part of a major plant design, Andy's client was required to carry out an alarm review. Andy advised the control, process and operations engineers on the project of current good practices for process alarms, particularly regarding prioritisation, and assisted in the initial review. They commented that this would result in an alarm system that was quite different to those they had experienced in the past but quickly understood the logic and started to see the benefits.

The end result was a relatively small number of high priority alarms, with more medium and low priorities, and a significant number assigned to 'journal.' This compared to an initial allocation where the vast majority of alarms were to be assigned high priority, which would have inevitably resulted in a high workload and distraction for operators. Although a significant undertaking, the project proved that an alarm review was achievable and manageable.

2011 - Gas

A fire had occurred and an employee had been burnt.  The company had carried out their own investigation but asked Andy to give them his opinion.  Using causal trees and applying his knowledge of human factors he was able to ask some searching questions that highlighted organisational and management weaknesses.  As a result the client developed a new engineering standard for the equipment being used at the time of the accident; and reviewed training and audit programs.

2009 - Gas onshore processing

Andy was required to visit newly constructed buildings housing electrical and control equipment.  His brief was to ensure the arrangements were appropriate to minimise risk of human error.  Andy identified that a number of cabinets were not positioned in a logical order, and that some labelling was confusing and ambiguous.  He was able to make practical and cost effective recommendations that were accepted by the engineering team as worthwhile and achievable.

2006 - Gas Storage

The client was completing the definition phase for a project to develop a gas storage facility using salt caverns. An ARM study was required to demonstrate the proposed plant arrangements would be suitable for the planned operating and commercial activity. Andy led the project with other consultants carrying out the modelling and analysis. He was required to communicate closely with the client to ensure the data used was appropriate and the results were appropriate to their needs. Andy was able to use his knowledge of the gas industry to interpret the modelling results and developing practical recommendations for achieving a reliable plant. He was also able to comment on human and managerial factors that would ultimately affect reliability once the plant was operational.

2006 - Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)

The site had recently undergone extensive modification. This included addition of a new control console in the existing control room. The client recognised that the design of the console had not received sufficient attention, and that the physical ergonomics were not ideal. Andy was asked to evaluate whether process safety had also been compromised through the design. The conclusion was that current best practice had not been followed, and that this meant risks were not as low as reasonably practicable. Andy then used the results of this study to influence the design of a new control room, to be constructed in approximately two years time. He was able to get the principles of ISO 11064 incorporated into the project, including end user participation.

2005 - Gas

Operation of the client's major hazard site includes a significant number of actions performed from a central control room. Over the years the plant being operated has changed, new control equipment had been installed and the control room had been generally rearranged with little control. Andy was asked to evaluate the ergonomics. Andy's study involved observation, discussion and task analysis. His conclusion was that the basic physical environment (heating, lighting etc.) was adequate, but that there were significant concerns about how various control screens and communications are arranged. Andy made a number of suggestions for rearranging the current equipment to make improvements in the short term, and advised that more wide ranging improvements will be required in the future.

2011 - Power/gas

The client had identified that they needed to improve their management of process safety risks. A key element of this was human factors, with Critical Task Analysis being a defined as a deliverable for all facilities. Andy was tasked with assisting eight sites around the UK with identifying critical operations and maintenance tasks, carrying out task and human error analyses; and recommending improvements to the way human factors risks were being managed.  All personnel involved were impressed with the practicality of the methods Andy used and Andy's ability to identify areas for improvement.

2008 - Gas Terminal

During a previous piece of work Andy commented that the client lacked a robust system for procedures, training and competence. As a result he was invited to return to site to develop a detailed plan of how to proceed.

Andy proposed that a full list of operational tasks ranked according to criticality would be the best way to start and proceeded to develop this with site personnel. Using a modest number of assessment criteria, Andy was able to create a spreadsheet that automated the criticality ranking and also suggested the optimum solution for managing risks through use of detailed procedures, job aids, on the job training, more formal method of training and competency assessment.

As a result the client had a very good idea of exactly what they needed to do to develop an effective system, and was able to demonstrate an approach based on process risk and human factors principles.

2010 - Gas storage

The client operated two similar facilities, although one was several decades old and the other brand new. Given the high hazard of the operation it had been recognised that a task and human error analysis needed to be carried.  A two stage approach was used. The first activity was to identify the task performed on each facility and to use a simple scoring system to assign criticality.  This showed that a similar number of tasks were performed on each, but a higher proportion were considered to be critical on the older facility because of the higher degree of manual operation involved.  The second stage involved carrying out a task and criticality analysis for the most critical tasks.  This showed that on the older facility risks were higher than they should be because items put in place to assist some manual monitoring and operation were not as reliable as they needed to be.  For the new facility the analysis showed that the design process had failed to address human factors and that were a number of features of the plant that did not achieve current good practice.  For both facilities it was found that there was no standard set for procedures and other written instructions.

2010 - Gas storage

Following his involvement in a similar, but much smaller project Andy was commissioned to act as human factors expert for a large offshore gas storage facility with onshore processing. The main deliverable during early front end engineering was a human factors integration plan that identified the activities that needed to be performed in order to integrate human factors into the project design and operations phases, with specific activities incorporated into the overall Project Plan. Following discussions with all the major stakeholders it was agreed that human factors would be a line responsibility within the Engineering disciplines (similar to other safety aspects) so that effective integration into the design is ensured. Each discipline Lead would be accountable for addressing human factors within their area of responsibility.  Given the safety implications, the project’s safety function would be responsible for the overall monitoring of human factors implementation within the project. However, the specialist nature of some elements meant support and assistance would be required from a human factors specialist on a consultative basis. The plan itself was to be used to record significant human factors landmarks and references in its support of the required safety case (offshore) and safety report (onshore COMAH)

2009 - Gas storage

Andy was commissioned as the human factors expert during front end engineering for a new gas storage facility. His task was to ensure human factors was given sufficient consideration during the early stages of design, to develop plans for implementation during detailed design and to support the pre-construction safety report required under the COMAH regulations. He did this by developing a human factors integration plan that was consistent with industry good practice and the overall project. It was accepted by the client, regulator and engineering team as a useful method of making sure human factors received sufficient attention throughout the project.

2003 - Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

The client was the design contractor for a large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility to be located in Northern Norway. As part of the contract the client was required to provide an 'emergency preparedness report' that defined equipment and procedural requirements, that was to be used by the Operator to develop emergency systems for the facility. Andy developed the emergency preparedness report for the client. This involved reviewing the Operator's specifications and the plant design and risk assessments. Andy advised the client on the minimum requirements, and practical considerations given likely manning levels and environmental conditions (note the facility was to be operated in northern Norway). He attended meetings with the client and Operator to confirm the necessary arrangements.

2004 - Liquefied Natural Gas

The client was the design contractor for a large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility to be located in Northern Norway. Following on from the Quantified Risk Assessment of the plant, which Andy was involved in, this project involved assessing the likely consequences of fire and explosion events that may occur. It was necessary to be able to demonstrate that the plant design would mean that it would withstand any of these events that had a frequency above a specified threshold. These were known as the 'Design Accident Loads.' The analysis was used to confirm that appropriate design standards had been used, and that the provision of passive and active fire protection, and emergency shutdown systems were adequate. Andy developed the method for carrying out this analysis, and wrote the report.

2010 - Gas

The client had recently experienced a significant incident, that came following a number of operational problems.  Prior to restarting the affected unit a fitness for service review was carried out to ensure that all known problems had been recognised and rectified.  Andy was asked to lead the human factors element of the review, which involved a review of incidents, task and error analysis of critical tasks and a formal HAZID assessment.  The result was a thorough documentation of the known issues and risks associated with the unit based on past experience, and a list of actions and recommendations.  The main finding was that the vast majority of issues were related to the unit's design, and relatively few were related to the softer human factors issues.

2007 - Gas, offshore

Following a major incident on an offshore platform the client identified a number of human errors that had occurred during evacuation, escape and rescue.

Andy was asked to carry out a human factors analysis of the systems in place, taking into account the events that occurred during this incident. He visited the platform in order to observe arrangements and talk to key personnel. He then completed a task and error analysis. From this Andy made a number of recommendations for improving procedures, training and equipment arrangements.

2007 - Gas, power

The client was carrying out Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for a decarbonised fuel power station. The plant would reform natural gas to create hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which would be reinjected into depleted gas wells to achieve sequestration. Being a radically new concept, the client wanted to ensure all good practices were followed throughout the design, including human factors.

Andy was given the role of identifying key aspects of the plants future operation. He identified the critical tasks, analysed them and specified requirements for plant design, control systems, user interfaces, procedures and training. The project contributed to the client's development of an internal human engineering standard and was nominated for a corporate award for safety innovation.

2007 - Gas onshore processing

Having completed 60% of the design for a major new plant, a review of the three dimensional model of the plant was carried out. This was attended by representatives of the design contractor, construction contractor, client and future operator.

Andy's role was to provide specialist human factors engineering input, advising on potential conflicts between the proposed plant layout and human factors good practice; and suggesting feasible solutions. Shell's Design and Engineering Practice (DEP) on human factors engineering was used throughout this project, and in fact this was one of the first major projects where this had been the case.

2008 - Gas onshore processing

Andy was appointed as Human Factors Engineering (HFE) lead on a major engineering project for the gas sector.  His role was to advise discipline engineers on requirements, review design and respond to questions.  He chaired the Project Ergonomics Team, maintained a detailed log of issues followed through to close, and documented key findings in the HFE design report.  Andy's involvement ensured HFE was an integral part of the project and that the final design complied with current standards and good practice.

2010 - Gas

The site had been in operation for many years and studies had shown that replacement of a number of major items of equipment would be required if it was going to achieve future safety, environmental and commercial requirements.  Andy was engaged to act as the human factors engineer within the design team.  His  role included identifying the aspects of the project that would have the greatest potential impact on human factors, to assist the design team in addressing the requirements and to review the design to ensure human factors requirements had been achieved.  A key element of the project was the adoption of a new control system, which included a new control room. Although this work was carried out at a very early stage in the project, Andy was able to influence the design in a number of areas, including the location of the control room and its basic layout; and he developed a detailed list of actions to be completed as the project progressed.

2007 - Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

The client was building a new facility, which was to include a new control room. Andy was asked to comment on the engineering contractor's design. He identified a number of deficiencies and was able to advise on how current good practices could be incorporated. He was subsequently asked to provide more detailed advice on the operator interfaces in the control room.

Andy conducted a task analysis workshop with the future operators of the plant. From this he was able to specify requirements for overview and detailed graphics; including task and scenario based displays where appropriate. As well as using the analyses carried out by Andy in the design of their user interfaces, the operators continued to carry out additional task analyses using the same method as they found it a very valuable exercise in reviewing the plant design and considering how they were to operate the plant in the future.

2006 - Gas terminal

Andy was seconded to the pre-operations team during the final design and construction phases of a new gas terminal. Andy's role was to facilitate task analysis and risk assessment, and to use the results to specify plant and interface design, procedural and competence requirements. This was a significant contribution to the preparation of the COMAH safety report and development of safe systems of work. Andy has provided ongoing support to the project, and this has demonstrated that human factors best practices can be incorporated into a project with minimal extra time and cost over 'traditional' approaches.

2008 - Gas, offshore

The client was designing a new gas production platform. Andy was asked to attend a Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) review to ensure human factors was given appropriate attention. His input ensured that human errors and risk controls were considered from a human factors perspective rather than purely engineering custom and practice.

2007 - Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

The client was in the process of building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility. As part of its development of a safety report under the COMAH regulations, a human Hazop was carried out. This followed the principles of Hazop, applied to key human activities using a modified set of key words. Because of his knowledge of human factors and LNG facilities he was asked to participate in the Hazop.

2009 - Gas terminal

Andy was engaged by the client to provide a range of human factors support.  A significant part of this was the development of improved operating procedures.  This involved developing a comprehensive task list, ranked using a systematic method of assigning criticality.  Detailed procedures, developed using task analysis were produced for the 10% of tasks considered to be most critical.  The procedures were considered to be far superior to the previous procedures because they were shorter, clearer and more accurate.

2011 - Gas

The client was planning major modifications to an existing facility. They recognised the importance of incorporating human factors into the design, which would be performed by a contractor. They asked Andy to provide the text to be included in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) being sent to design contractors and to advise on the issues to be considered when evaluating bids. Andy specified the general approach required to manage human factors during the project as well as identifying the likely human factors 'hot spots' that would require specific management plans and be included in project reviews and audit.

2005 - Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

The client was the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import, storage and regassification facility being built in Spain. Andy's role was to review the engineering design in order to identify credible loss of containment events and to evaluate the potential consequences. This involved him working with the design team, examining piping and instrument diagrams (P&IDs) and reviewing plant and equipment specifications. His analysis was used to determine the accidental loads that the plant had to be able to withstand so that escalation did not occur. It needed to be presented in a way that the designers could understand and their client would accept.

2008 - Gas onshore processing

Andy was engaged by a design contractor to oversee work carried out by a vendor of a control room (including DCS and other interfaces) and auxiliary buildings.  His role was to ensure human factors had been given adequate consideration.  Andy led model reviews of the buildings, facilitated usability tests and carried out site inspections.  His intervention led to improved design of operator interfaces; and improved layout and labelling of equipment cabinets.  The ultimate client for the project was very appreciative of the work carried out by Andy and took a more hands-off approach having been reassured that key issues had been identified and addressed.  This certainly reduced the workload on the design contractor and their vendor.

2003 - Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

The client was the design contractor for a large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility to be located in Northern Norway. The project was a full Quantified Risk Assessment of the design to identify any points of weakness and demonstrate that personal and societal risks were acceptable to the Operator and Norwegian regulator. Andy's role in the project was to calculate the predicted frequency of loss of containment, fire and explosion events. For pipework and fittings, a formula derived from the HSE offshore hydrocarbon release data, modified for LNG use, was used to determine leak probabilities. For other items (e.g. ship loading arms, tank foundation heaters) Andy used industry databases and developed event and fault trees for the analysis. The results from the QRA were used to modify the design in a number of key areas to reduce risks.

2007 - Gas terminal

The client was planning a significant organisational change. Referring to the HSE's staffing assessment methodology, but tailoring it to the client's specific needs, Andy considered the plans and employees' views. From this he was able to identify that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the objectives, but that some of the arrangements for implementing the change needed to be reviewed.

2006 - Gas, offshore

Andy was asked to return to the platform approximately one year after his initial review, to evaluate subsequent changes. He found that a number of his previous recommendations had been implemented, and had been received favourably by both operators and management. Andy to identified some further opportunities to improve, challenging some custom and practice that could potentially introduce risk. He was able to make a number of recommendations to further improve the control room that would ultimately contribute to safely reducing manning levels.

2005 - Gas, offshore

The original arrangement on the offshore complex included two control rooms. The client had recently changed this to have the two operators in the same room. Andy was required to evaluate the impact of this change and to determine whether it would be possible for one operator to operate the whole complex. This involved a visit offshore and a two day workshop with personnel. The HSE staffing methodology was used as the basis for the evaluation. Andy's conclusions were that the completed changes were largely satisfactory, but that further changes to alarm systems and layout of the control room were required before any down manning could be considered to ensure the lone operator was not overly distracted be events.

2007 - Gas, offshore

Three offshore gas platforms had been designed and were in the early stages of construction. Previously, during Front End Engineering Design (FEED) a preliminary human factors engineering analysis had been carried out using Shell's Design and Engineering Practices (DEP).

Andy was asked to carry out a human factors review at the end of detailed design. This involved a three day workshop attended by representatives of the design contractors and the future operating company during which the key systems and critical tasks were identified and analysed. Andy's report confirmed adherence to the DEP and other good practice; and recommended a number of actions to improve the design.

2004 - Gas power station

The client was in the process of commissioning a 750 MW combined heat and power (CHP) power station that was to supply electricity to the national grid and steam to nearby industrial facilities. Andy reviewed the newly developed safety management system to advise on whether it was fit for the needs of the operating plant and compliant with the Health and Safety Executive's guidance (HSG 65) and the Occupational Health and Safety Specification (OHSAS 18001). Andy's review confirmed the system was largely compliant, but that it was in danger of being unnecessarily bureaucratic. He made a number of recommendations to simplify the system by ensuring the true nature of hazards and risks were reflected by the system and its associated procedures.

2011 - Gas

The client had experienced an incident. Although the consequences had been relatively minor it was recognised that a number of failures had occurred, including errors by the control room operator, that could indicate deep set human factors problems. Because of his knowledge of the site, Andy was asked to assist in the analysis of the incident. He was able to point towards systemic weaknesses that had contributed to the errors. Also, he was able to show that warning signs had been visible for some time prior to the incident, but people had not appreciated their significance. The client is using the findings from the incident, including Andy's report, to develop plans to improve the management of human factors across the business.

2011 - Gas

Major modifications were taking place on site to accommodate a new process.  This included reuse of some redundant plant and installation of new.  As a result, the site's COMAH report needed to be updated.  Andy assisted by providing text for the report to cover human factors.  Also, he worked with the client and their design contractors to ensure human factors were being adequately considered in the project.  He produced a human factors integration plan covering the modifications that was incorporated into the project plan and was submitted as an attachment to the COMAH report to demonstrate the approach being taken.

2010 - Gas storage

As part of a critical task analysis exercise, two operations were subject to task and error analysis.  They were the replacement of Sub-Surface Safety Valves (SSSV) and changing a wing valve.  Both are quite different from the normal operating and maintenance tasks performed on process plants.  The analyses highlighted the importance of good planning, engaging competent contractors and ensuring appropriate procedures are in place.  Equally the analyses demonstrating that tasks that on the face of it are particularly hazardous can be performed in a safe and effective manner.