A Fault-Finding Training Programme for Continuous Plant Operators

Abstract

This symposium with its title, Human Detection and Diagnosis of System Failures, clearly implies that, at least in the immediate future, complex systems may have to resort to the skills of the human operator when problems arise during operation. However, the human attributes particularly appropriate to faultfinding are not inherent in the organism; operators of complex systems must be trained if they are to be efficient diagnosticians. This paper describes the development of a training programme specifically designed to help trainee process operators learn to recognise process plant breakdowns from an array of control room instruments. Although developed originally to train fault-finding in the context of continuous process chemical plant, it is probable that the techniques we are going to describe may prove to be equally effective in other industries. For example, power plants, crude oil refineries and oil production platforms all involve continuous processes which are operated from a central control room.