Understanding and supporting abnormal situation management in industrial process control environments: a new approach to training

A persistent paradox in the domain of supervisory control is that as automation technology advances in complexity and sophistication, operations professionals are faced with increasingly complex decisions in managing abnormal situations. An abnormal situation management (ASM) solution concept team was established to identify current limitations facing industrial plant operations during abnormal conditions. We observed and interviewed a broad range of personnel at six plants in the US and Europe. Several critical areas were identified as important to the improvement of the operability and safety of operations under abnormal situations. In this paper, we focus on the specific area of training personnel to manage abnormal situations. We call for a paradigmatic shift in the approach to training through the design of the work environment as an enhanced learning environment