Improving Plant Safety Leveraging an Operator Training Simulator - Benefits and Best Practice Recommendations

Reports and published information on plant incidents unequivocally demonstrate that human error is a major contributor to the occurrence of abnormal situations and accidents within industrial plants. The reports vary by industry and by the definition of “human error’, however the industry reports highlight that one in four accidents and 42% of unplanned shutdowns are caused by human error.

While it is true that many accidents can be traced back to human error there is a second perspective to consider – accidents or unplanned shutdowns that didn’t occur. The skills and experience of operators certainly have an impact everyday preventing undesirable situations from occurring. The expertise of experienced operators is a critical safety enabler in the industry and should be recognized and applauded.

This sentiment is reinforced given an industry survey by the ARC Advisory Group highlights that the most important skill of an operator is their ability to avoid incidence or abnormal behavior in the plant that they are controlling.

Developing the skills of the workforce to reduce human error is paramount and has been for a long time. The process industries are however facing new challenges and must adapt and build a learning framework to mitigate these challenges related to changing demographics and increasing reliance on automation.

• Changing demographics. The aforementioned experienced operators who have been at their plants often for decades are approaching retirement and will be supplanted by a younger more inexperienced workforce
• Increasing reliance on automation. Autonomous operation is a stated goal of many in the industry but today the average operator is responsible for hundreds of control loops before a further push towards such stated autonomous goals.

The paper builds upon the initial discussion of the training needs that can help reduce human error and begins to look at how experiential learning platforms can be an integral building block to address these newly developing challenges. Shortening time to autonomy of the workforce is of paramount importance for every industrial company in today’s dynamic environment.

The paper then discusses how today’s state-of-the-art training facilities should include an operator training simulator as a key learning enabler.

Operator Training Simulators (OTS) are known to come at a significant cost and justifying an OTS is often a challenge when the benefit is safety and accident avoidance. The paper discusses how companies can justify the expense of including an OTS as an integral part of a learning environment by providing real-world example benefits reported in publications by many different companies in the process industries.

However, the pure existence of a technology or a technical system doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be used in the most effective and efficient way. It’s a mistake to assume that the task of better training is accomplished simply by the purchase of an Operator Training Simulator.

To improve return on investment from simulation systems, users are adopting best practices and continuous improvement programs for implementing automation system testing and training. However, when surveyed only 19% of companies have a corporate wide strategy for OTS usage.

Addressing human error through continuous training is crucial for preventing unplanned shutdowns and accidents in plants. Purchasing an OTS is a part of the journey and neither the start nor the end of a company’s journey. This paper provides a solid roadmap and recommendations on how to be successful, while highlighting common pitfalls hopefully paving the way to a safer industrial workplace.