The need for developing control rooms which provide the basis for efficient operation and the elimination or minimisation of errors in human operation has been recognised by the planned development of a set if ISO standards .The initial three parts of the ISO 11064 standards are currently in draft form and provide an interesting and relevant indication of what managers should be focusing on in designing,developing and implimenting control room structures and functions.
A notable aspect is that the guidelines focus as much on the process of getting things right as the actual criteria to be looked at. Another relevant point the guidelines make in respect of designing an appropriate control room is that it is not just a simple case of specifying something and then taking this as given. The development is an iterative process - the final product is a result of continual testing of ideas, feedback and evaluation. In this article, I will briefly cover some of the general considerations for control room design that come though in the guidelines.
A control room is seen to take various forms. In the widest context, a control centre may be composed of a control room and its infrastructure, as well as additional local control stations or sub-stations.
A level down from this is a control suite that reflects a control room with its infrastructure. This kind of infrastructure will vary according to the size, function, and cost considerations in development, but is relatively common in large scale control room operations. A number of the facilities may be combined into one area, but they are differentiated in terms of their purpose. They include:
p The operational control room itself.
p Meeting room.
p Equipment room.
p Office.
p Maintenance room for technical staff.
p Relaxation/break room.
p Eating area.
p Kitchen.
p Locker room and toilets.
p Library for manuals and drawings.
p Visitors' gallery.
Relative positioning
The relative positioning of these to each other is a major consideration in the control suite design and layout. The nature of the facility also needs to be considered. For example, access to the facilities, ensuring that the use of one facility does not cause problems for another and ensuring that use of facilities is possible by all relevant personnel (eg disabled personnel) all need to be considered.
In smaller operations, a control room may be self contained with relevant facilities incorporated into the room. Careful attention needs to be paid to ensuring that the functions do not interfere with each other in this situation.
Defining management requirements
An important theme that comes out of the guidelines is an emphasis on first defining management requirements such as goals, task requirements and defining jobs and organisational structure in order to provide the basis for a conceptual design of the control room. Once this picture has been developed, more detailed environmental considerations relating to the physical structure, layout, ergonomics and work station design can be defined and specified.
Space a critical component
Space is obviously a critical component in the design and layout of the control room. Careful consideration needs to go into the choice of building and location and working area of the control room. Security, visibility, and access control all need to be considered in the choice of a building. In the assessment of the appropriateness of any venue, the guidelines indicate that the usable space rather than the floor space needs to be considered.
Pillars, awkward corners, windows and access points can all limit the layout, design and flexibility of the layout of the control room and workstations. Ceiling heights and access through the floor also may have major implications for what can go into the control room. The design also needs to go beyond immediate and apparent needs to the potential or planned expansion of the control room and the draft standards provide recommendations in this regard.
Criteria should define location
The establishment of criteria important to the conceptual design of the control room ideally need to be defined prior to the choice of site. First choosing a site and then what is supposed to fit into it may lead to compromises and squeezing functions into the control room, leading to poor ergonomics and efficiency. Unfortunately, the practical conditions of what is available and the reduction of costs often mean that the manager responsible for the control room does not have many options available.
Using a check list of required criteria can, however, lead to a more informed decision and a basis for comparisons when selecting an appropriate control room site.
For details contact Craig Donald of Leaderware on tel: (011) 787 7811, fax: (011) 886 6815 or e-mail: craig.donald@leaderware.com
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