2010 - Oil

Andy was engaged by a company carrying out safety reviews for a new oil facility. His role was to attend the project offices in the middle east in order to carry out a human factors and ergonomics review. He ran a three day workshop, attended by representatives of the design contractors, suppliers of control equipment and the client. His review covered the control room, site layout, working conditions and potential for human error resulting in process safety incidents. From this he was able to identify a number of actions, prioritised according to the stages of the project where they could be implemented. His report was well received, with participants at the workshop being impressed with what could be learnt from a human factors review that had not been uncovered during the numerous engineering safety studies (e.g. HAZID, HAZOP).

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.