Relating information to skill in the control of process plant

Describes an approach to deal with operating problems caused by failure to provide adequate information to operating staff. It is necessarily brief in explaining the principles behind the approach, rather than flesh out full detail. The method depends upon plant engineers and managers first using task analysis to articulate how their plant should be operated. Then it employs a method of decomposing the analysis into classes of activity, where each member of a particular class is presumed to depend upon the same sorts of information for successful performance. This is then used by designers to provide actual sources of information or actual control devices to comply with the information requirements identified. By being systematic in this way, it is suggested, designers may be more confident that the information and control facilities represented at an interface will be sufficient to support operators carrying out their range of duties and avoid error due to inadequate information.