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The following table contains links to past Beville newsletters, Beville's published papers (available by filling out our published paper request form - those papers are linked to the form), and external articles.

Book written by David A. Strobhar: Human Factors in Process Plant Operation

A Few Factors to Consider When Designing Checklists
A Few False Alarms Go a Long Way
A Humanistic Approach to Managing Plant Modernization Projects (request)
Abnormal Events Typically Are Not the Cause of High Control Operator Loadings
Advanced Process Control; Is It the Operator's Best Friend or Worst Enemy?
Aerospace Industry Shifting From High Fidelity Simulators to Smaller, Multi-Purpose Simulators
Aiming for Operator Excellence (external)
Alarm Analysis: One Size Does Not Fit All
Alarm System Avalanche and Multiple Process Control
Alarm System Trust - Crying Wolf vs Missing the Wolf
Alarm Systems: One Size Does Not Fit All
Alarms and Staffing
All 12-Point Fonts Are Not Created Equal
Are Mode Errors Built Into the Operator Interface of Your Control Systems?
Are Old Solutions the Best Solutions?
Are Simulators the Answer to Skill Degradation Problems?
Are you sure we shouldn't trip the compressor?
Automation and Teamwork
Automation is Increasing, but Do We Trust It?
Automation's Impact on Operator Performance
Be Careful About Single-Dimensional Solutions to Multidimensional Problems
Better than a Baker's Dozen (Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents)
Beville's Non-Intrusive Console Workload Assessment
Board Inspection Frequency: Can today's board be left unattended?
Breakdowns in Human-Automation Coordination Can Create Automation Surprises
Bring Your Procedures Into the 21st Century (external)
Call a COP (external)
Can a Control System Be Operated Correctly If the User Has an Incorrect Conceptual Model?
Can You Have Too Many CRTs?
Can You Increase Automation Without Leaving the Operator Behind?
Changes in Operator Activities Due to Upsets; When the ---- Hits the Fan
Changing Workforce Drives Control Room Modernization (external)
Cognitive Lock-Up, Its Effect on Span of Control, and the Danger It Poses to Emergency and High Workload Situations
Collaboration Picks Up Speed (external)
Color and Shape Coding's Effects on Process Control Tasks
Communication Differences Between Dedicated Inside and Outside Operators
Consortium Reports New Findings on Alarm Rates (external)
Control Operator Overload: Identification and Prevention (request)
Control Room Consolidation, It's more than just a new building. (external)
World Refining, 12/03. B.A. Walker/Brad Adams Walker Architecture, P.C., & D.A. Strobhar, PE/Beville Operator Performance Specialists, Inc.
Contact World Refining directly (ask for Amy) at 800.874.2544, ext. 129 to request a copy.
Control Room Design Manual (request)
Control Room Etiquette
Control Systems ...Oh no, not again! (external)
Controller Workload: What are they doing and why are they doing so much of it? (request)
COP: Is there a way to make procedures easier to use and update?
COP: What do I put on Level 1 and 2 graphics?
Cost of Red Pumps
Cough Once for Danger
Crew Resource Management Training: An Invaluable Tool for Improving Team Interaction
Data Entry
Data Translation: Something Gained, Something Lost
DCS Console Operator Issues in Related Industries (external)
DCS Skill Degradation with Advanced Control: Implications for Training
Debriefing
Did You Leave This in the Copier?
Differences in Instrument Monitoring Patterns Between Expert and Novice Operators
Display Design Techniques to Convert Data to Information
Display Design: Recent Technique Discussed
Displays for Complex Systems - Knowing a Few Concepts Can Improve Their Quality
Do You Have HMI Design Backward? (external)
Do You Know How Tired You Are?
Do You Realize What You Have Said?
Do You Trust It?
Does It Bother You Not to See Your Car's Pistons Moving?
Don't Cloud the Issue with Facts
Effectiveness of Part-Task Training
Effectiveness of Warning Labels
Emergency Procedures: Is There a Best Format?
Emerging Trends of CRT Usage by Control Board Operators
Evidence on the Benefit of Light Backgrounds
Evolution of Operator Decision-Making (request)
Expert Operators
Give Your Operator a New Brain Courtesy of Area 51
Good Alarms and Good Automation Both Help
Graphic Displays Aid in Viewer Interpretations
Hazardous Experience
HAZOP Analyses Often Fail to Address Human Factors and Equipment Operability Issues
Heads Up, Some Regulatory Agencies Are Requiring Human Factors Programs
High Control Board Operator Loadings are Not Usually Caused by Abnormal Events
How Good is Your Operator's Mental Model? (external)
How Long Can Operators Keep Their Skills? Sometimes Forever!
How Many Alarms Can an Operator Handle? (external)
How Many Lab Technicians Does It Take to Analyze a Sample?
How Many Operators to Staff a Post
How Many Operators to Staff a Unit
How Many Process Units in a Tomahawk Cruise Missile?
How much worse would your plant be if you threw away all the emergency procedures?
How to Build a Better Operator (external)
How Would Your Plant Have Done?
Human Factors Engineering in Control Room Design and Operation (request)
Human Factors in Alarm System Management: Information Versus Data (request)
Human Factors in Distributed Process Control (request)
Human Factors in Oil Refinery Operation (external)
Human Factors in Process Plant Safety (request)
Human Factors in TDC3000 Alarm and Display Design (request)
Human Factors Problems in Instrumentation Maintainability
Human Factors Problems of Advanced Control Systems
Human Performance Limits and Process Alarms
Identification of Factors Which Influence Team Performance
If I Can't Trust You With the Easy...
Ignorance Is Bliss
I'm Not a Computer, I'm a Human Being!(Efficient Brain Power)
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was interrupted.
Impact of Control Room Consolidation on Operator Workload
Impact of Monitor Size on Viewing Distances
Improving Human Effectiveness (external)
Improving Problem Diagnosing in Control Board Operators
Improving Team Performance: Creating Expert Teams Rather Than Teams of Experts
In Pursuit of Improved Operator Performance (external)
Inadequate Oversight of Alarm Configurations Will Lead to Vastly Different Plant Alarm Systems
Increase Unit Operator Utilization/Productivity Through Job Sampling (request)
Incremental Changes to Plant Equipment Can Lead to Disgruntled Operating Crews
Informational Invariants As a Basis of Skill Transfer in Process Simulation
Intelligent Alarm Management (from INSTRUMENT ENGINEER'S HANDBOOK, request)
Is Counting the Number of Control Loops a Valid Technique for Estimating Operator Workload? (request)
Is There a Correlation Between Amount of Equipment and Operator Workload?
Is Your Plant's Emergency Response Significantly More Difficult Than Others in the Industry?
Just sit there and hit the silence button!
Lack of Planning in Alarm System Configuration Is, in Essence, Planning to Fail (request)
Legislated Human Factors is Bad Human Factors
Less Is More
Lessons Learned About Plant Operations in the 20 Years Since the Three Mile Island Incident
"Lies, Da**ed Lies, and Statistics": A Tale of Two Alarm Systems
Low Workload Does Not Equal Improved Performance
Making Displays Into Mental Models
Many Alarm System Configurations Lack Proper Planning
Mental Fatigue Impairs Decision-Making Strategy
Modularizing Emergency Procedures for Increased Ease of Use and Updating (external)
Monitoring Instruments: DCS Versus Analog Gauges
Most Petrochemical Plants Don't Spend Enough Time on Shift Relief
Naive Realism: Realistic Displays Can Hurt Performance
New Research Has Found Computer-Based Decision Aids Can Increase Operational Error
New Research Suggests Alarms Are Not Always Beneficial
Nice Versus Necessary: A Dangerous Trap in Man-Machine System Design
NRC Policy Statement on Control Room Conduct
On the Other Hand...
One More Reason for Fewer CRTs
Operator-Cashier Analogy
Operator Interfaces Expand Human Factors (external)
Operator Interfaces: Moving from Comfortable to Most Effective (external)
Operator of the Future
Operator Performance as a Function of Alarm Rate and Interface Design (external)
Operator Performance Gets Better (external)
Operator Performance in Relation to Functionally or Topographically-Presented Process Information
Operator Performance Research Put into Practice (external)
Operator Performance Takes Center Stage (external)
Operator Training Gains Ground (external)
Operators are like firemen: You would rather see them sitting than running around.
Operators Get More Help (external)
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Introduction
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 1: System Requirements
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 2: Job Design
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 3: Automation
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 4: Staffing
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 5: Organization
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 6: Training
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 7: Workstation Design
Performance-Shaping Factors Series-Lesson 8: Interface Design
Plant Safety Is a Function of Many Different Factors...
Plug the Holes in the Swiss Cheese Model (external)
Position Staffing and Overtime Expectations - Interactive Worksheet
Problem Solving And Expert Systems
Procedural Nonsense
Procedure/Display Design Style
Procedures Can Result in Worse Performance
Psychological Rest Periods for Control Board Operators: What Range Is Acceptable?
Quantification of Operator Workload and Staffing (request)
Realistic Displays Degrade Performance
Redesigning Process Plant Jobs Through Job Task Inventories? Be Careful!
Research Suggests Some People Are More Susceptible to Boredom Than Others
Reverse Highlighting
"Safety Is More Complicated Than You Might Think"
Seems obvious, but is it being done?
Service Extraction from Operator Procedures in Process Industries (external)
Simple, Strong, and Easy to Use (external)
Skill Transfer Research: The Issue of Process Simulation Fidelity
Sleep Duration and Twelve-Hour Shifts
Smart Operators are Good
Speeding Up Simulator Training Exercises Can Lead to Improved Training
Square Peg for a Round Hole
Staffing Levels
Succession Planning (external)
Sustaining Vigilance: Optimizing the Lower End of the Workload Scale
The Case of Alarm Overload - NPRA Paper (request)
The Good News/Bad News of Procedural-Based Training
The Keys to Operator Performance (external)
The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts.
Time's up! What are you going to do?
Toward an Understanding of DCS Control Operator Workload (request)
Toward an Upset Response Task Workload Assessment Technique for Chemical Processing Plants (request)
Training for Dual Tasks, Implications for Operating Multiple Processes
Under-Loaded Board Operators Create Risk
Unit Type vs. Board Workload - Is there an association?
Watch What You're Thinking -- You're Turning Off the Lights
Well, now we know.
What are the Differences When Engineers and Supervisors Staff Plants Instead of Hourly Employees?
What are the Guidelines for Selecting Font Sizes for CRT Displays?
What Game Are You Playing?
What is Crew Resource Management?
What is the Upper Limit to Board Operator Span of Control (request)
What Role Should Supervisors Play During Plant Upsets?
What's a good operator like you doing in a refinery like this?
What's Your Story? An Approach to Display Design
When Good Guidelines Go Bad
Who's in Control?
Why Can't We Do It Ourselves?
Workload Observation Thoughts

BEVILLE NEWS

The 2024 Spring Meeting of the Center for Operator Performance will take place on April 16-18, 2024, in Pine Bend, MN/Hybrid. For more information on this and future meetings, please contact Lisa Via. Guests are always welcome!

Our most recent newsletter is now available. Click here!


David Strobhar's book, "Human Factors in Process Plant Operation," is now available in both hardcover and Kindle e-book.

Copyright 1996-2024 Beville Operator Performance Specialists, Inc. All rights reserved. (937)434-1093. Beville@Beville.com