Ergonomic Design of Control Processes: Technology, People and Learning at Work

摘要

In this paper, we present details of our on-going research into ergonomic approaches to control centre/room design and work operations. We describe modern interfaces between technology and people moderated by learning and developing at work. We report case studies from three industries, and note how current and future control rooms include work-based learning as a key design concept. In this setting learning strategies help augment both technology and people in the development of work processes and technology. Through primary research with technology-driven companies, we note the increasing prevalence of ergonomic design as a feature of control centre design. This includes an awareness of the potentials of control centre operators to engage more closely with process design and development. In environments where work tasks are increasingly more complex than in the past, the levels of competence and necessary knowledge and abilities of operators have increased. Nowadays, control centre tasks cover a larger perspective than the controls rooms of the past. Many different new types of organizations and firms (e.g. in safety and security, business, trading, energy, environment, and government) now rely heavily on control room work as a critical success factor. Part of this is the need for the control centre operators to become more fully integrated into work process design in ways that were not possible a generation ago.We structure this paper into three parts. Firstly, we describe key features of modern and future control room design. In so doing, we indicate the functions of control centres in old and new organizations. The focus is changing from monitoring and supervision to strategic management and decision centre. Secondly, we revisit key concepts of learning at work, and develop these to take account of current and emerging technologies for control centre work. In this discussion, we note the important roles played by principles of human factors in work. We develop a work process applied to and facilitated by a four-step model of learning and innovating at work. We highlight the importance of a “high ceiling” style of management for these advanced teams of operators, experts and executives. In our concluding discussion, we propose ways in which organizations and their technologies can benefit from incorporating concerns of human elements with the control system for developing the existing systems and processes. We also propose a number of important areas of research to facilitate this development supported by evidence-based knowledge.