Posts by mycontrolroom
Learn More about Management Systems
User Centered Design Services is an associate member of the Abnormal Situation Management Consortium®; Ian Nimmo was previously the Program Director for the Consortium and led all of the benchmarking studies for the consortium. Through his involvement in numerous cross-industry site studies at Power Plants, Refineries, Petro Chemical and Iron and Steel manufacturing plants, he…
Read MoreSteps in reducing human error
Human error is some that impacts so many areas of operations and effectiveness. We have designed several tools, workshops and assessments to identify where human error is causing the biggest problems in your operations. Here are some steps to reduce human errors include: addressing the conditions and reducing the stressors which increase the frequency of…
Read MoreControl Room Security
Hello to all our on-line friends, customers and potential customers. UCDS welcomes you to our new website, we have been working diligently to remove the bugs and correct broken links, if you do find any please let us know. Like you, we strive for excellence and we support continuous improvement process in all we do.…
Read MoreReducing Human Error
Reducing human error involves far more than taking disciplinary action against an individual. There are a range of measures which are more effective controls including design of the job and equipment, procedures, and training. Our Work Team Design Assessment will help not just evolve a new organization and culture but also develop and organizational culture…
Read MoreDownload resources for alarm management
Did you know that we have several Alarm Management downloadable resources available to you? Alarms Graphic Projects A longer and more detailed version of the Alarm Overload paper – written by Ian Nimmo. Paper discussing the benefits of Alarm Management and Graphics Projects i.e., focusing on life-cycle characteristics and transitioning to maintaining good alarm management…
Read MoreSoftware to measure the fatigue risk of shift workers
UCDS partnered with Circadian to offer a software tool that allows customers to measure the fatigue risk of shift workers. This allows management to schedule the right workers during the right shift to reduce the risk of a fatigue related incident. Press release: Shift Worker and Fatigue (measuring the Risk) Operator fatigue is a critical…
Read MoreHuman Factors books to read
It’s 2013 folks…and we are off and running! Well, that’s the theory anyways. As for me, I have not done any running for a while. Last year while travelling the world I ruptured my Achilles tendon which was not much fun. When I got back from Hawaii last December, I went straight to the hospital…
Read MoreThe Need for Good Situation Awareness
This is an excerpt the the document: Abnormal Situation Awareness The Need for Good Situation Awareness Ian Nimmo, President The goal in designing a control room is to create a work environment that promotes high levels of vigilance and situation awareness. Operators are vigilant when they are alert and prepared to act. They have a…
Read MoreDesigning Your Control Room
UCDS has in-depth experience in designing control rooms and modifying existing field shelters. Our process is compliant with the ISO 11064 Ergonomic Design Standard for Control Buildings. We interview management, supervision and a significant group of the operators to understand functional requirements, what works well in the existing environment, and identification and correction of problems…
Read MoreComplete Control Room Solution
Happy New Year to all our friends and clients! We wish you a prosperous New Year and we pray for each of you to enjoy good health. I am starting the year recovering from Achilles heel surgery, which I can tell you is very painful and not recommended. I will be doing PT in the…
Read MoreMore of UCDS is Coming!
Another new month, I can’t keep up! We had a great time at Sedona, AZ at our AGM and planning for next year. Melinda, husband and three girls joined us for an evening. The twins dominated. So cute. I have had a busy month with a visit to Sweeny, Texas for a High Performance HMI…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving
Another busy month for UCDS with lots of travel! I made Chairman (100,000 miles) on US Airways already for next year and Dave is close behind me. I have recently spoken at a couple of big events. I was at the Emerson User Group where I presented a paper on HMI design. It covered why…
Read MoreImplementing a High-Performance HMI Philosophy and Culture
Little thought has been given to human factors in the control room layout, the operator stations and even less to the user interface design. Operators may be oriented to “normal,” steady-state plant operations, but are ill-prepared to deal with abnormal situations when they arise. This includes scheduled shutdowns and start-ups that today happen at increasingly…
Read MoreImplementing a High-Performance HMI Philosophy and Culture
Little thought has been given to human factors in the control room layout, the operator stations and even less to the user interface design. Operators may be oriented to “normal,” steady-state plant operations, but are ill-prepared to deal with abnormal situations when they arise. This includes scheduled shutdowns and start-ups that today happen at increasingly…
Read MoreHigh Performance HMI
This month’s focus has been High Performance HMI for me, a lot of new interest. I joined other experts at the Emerson Exchange to discuss an alternative design without dependence on P&ID’s and PFD’s. So, what is the alternative? If anyone would like a copy of my slides let me or Steve Maddox smaddox@mycontrolroom.com know…
Read MoreLots and lots of Control Rooms!
This last month has been interesting and adventurous for David and myself. We had two wonderful weeks in Chile; the hotel we stayed at had a great view of the Ocean. We then went and spent a few days in one of the World’s biggest Copper Mines. It was amazing to observe over 10,000 contractors…
Read MoreWhat is the High-Performance HMI?
August is here and it is a very busy month for UCDS. Dave and I will be gone for the whole month. We start with the first couple of weeks doing a control room gap analysis and conceptual design for a mining customer. We as always start the process with our Situation Awareness Workshop. This…
Read MoreUCDS is busy in the field!
Everyone at UCDS is very busy this quarter. I think this weekend is the first that Dave will be home all weekend, and a good weekend for him and his family as they are celebrating becoming US Citizens. We congratulate them and wish them all well as they make a commitment to the US. I…
Read MoreNews February 2012
Well January has been and gone, does that sound familiar! It was a very busy month for UCDS, Dave and I went to Trinidad with our good friend Rob Allen, we put on a very detailed Situation Awareness Workshop and a High Performance HMI workshop for our customer. This would be the first of many…
Read MoreSituation Awareness
Well, January has been and gone, does that sound familiar! It was a very busy month for UCDS. Dave and I went to Trinidad with our good friend Rob Allen and we put on a very detailed Situation Awareness Workshop and a High Performance HMI workshop for our customer. This would be the first of…
Read MoreUser-Centered Design
Well, 2 months in one for the news update! I have been really busy and travelling up a storm. November started with a 3-day Human Centered Design conference in Houston, which was very interesting. It seems the world is getting very interested in these terms. We prefer to use User Centered Design, to put the…
Read MoreUcds Podcast 1
mycontrolroom.com’s first podcast. This is our overview video. Check it out and let us know what you think. The podcast can be view here on the blog or directly in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast//id485498993
Read MoreControl Room Design
Control Room Design – UCDS continues to help customers with their control rooms. We have been working on a wide range of control rooms from different industries, different sizes, and minor changes in style. We have been working with one customer who allowed their architect and Engineering contractor to build the control room. We are…
Read MoreCompliance with PHMSA Regulations
This last month has been an extremely busy month and quite a change from last year. The month started with an Alarm Management Workshop in Salt Lake City and the development of an alarm philosophy for our customer there. Then Harry, Dave and I spent two weeks in Lima, Ohio doing a staffing study and…
Read MoreHappy 4th of July – America
“We hold,” says the Declaration, “these truths to be self-evident: – that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the…
Read MoreUpdated Best Practice Guides
Well, where do I start? It has been a few months since I have had time to sit down and do an update. I have even had a few emails and phone calls from some concerned customers who log-on regularly. I have to be honest, we have been overloaded. I have had 4 different teams…
Read MoreNew Workshop on PHMSA Rule
We want to wish our friend’s and customers a very Merry Christmas and thank you all for putting your trust in us. It was a very different year with a lot of firsts for us. We also transitioned leadership from CCE back to me, which was a huge step for me. We wish CCE best…
Read MoreMethodology & Tools
UCDS has had an interesting month, which included our tradition of spending Thanksgiving in Sedona, for good food, relaxation and visiting nature. A few hikes in the Sedona country side which is very beautiful and good for the soul. We had a few firsts in November. We introduced our High Performance HMI ladder assessment gap…
Read MoreMethodology & Tools
UCDS has had an interesting month, which included our tradition of spending Thanksgiving in Sedona, for good food, relaxation and visiting nature. A few hikes in the Sedona country side which is very beautiful and good for the soul. We had a few firsts in November. We introduced our High Performance HMI ladder assessment gap…
Read MoreGood Control Rooms Do Not Just Happen
This has been an incredible month so far. I started the month in Houston at the ISA Awards where I received my Fellow award. Let me share a little of the experience with you. Citation: In recognition of visionary development of Abnormal Situation Management. Ian Nimmo is President of User Centered Design Services Inc. and…
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