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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

FREE EXCEL TOOLS

Shape Calculator

Overtime Calculator

Alarm Distribution Estimator

-Alarm System Avalanche and Multiple Process Control

-All 12-Point Fonts Are Not Created equal

-Can You Have Too Many CRTs?

-COP: What do I put on level 1 and 2 graphics?

-Under-Loaded Board Operators Create Risk

-Impact of Monitor Size on Viewing Distances

-More...

BEVILLE NEWS

The 2025 Spring Meeting of the Center for Operator Performance will take place April 29th-May 1st, 2025, in San Antonio, TX. 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.

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