The Omission of Human Engineering in the Design of Offshore Equipment and Facilities: How Come?
Authors: Miller G.E. 
Published: October 2008

Human Engineering (HE), the specialized engineering profession which assists in designing equipment and the workplace to match the human operator maintainer's capabilities and limitations, has been involved in the design of U.S. Navy ships and marine equipment for the last decade. Yet, the commercial marine world in general, and the offshore industry in particular, has continued to exclude HE from its design of offshore platforms, service vessels, and individual pieces of marine hardware. This paper presents some possible explanations for this exclusion, examines their validity, and provides several examples of the consequences of omitting HE from the design of past marine hardware.

INTRODUCTION

Over the past twenty years human factors engineering (HFE) has been described in a variety of ways. A 1970 U.S. Navy publication described HFE as, "the activities required to integrate the human operator and maintainer into a system".(l) An article published in the Naval Engineers Journal in 1983 defined HFE as, "the engineering discipline concerned with the design and evaluation of systems, hardware, software, documentation, environments, and communications specifically for the personnel who will operate, maintain, control, and manage the system".(2) Finally a third attempt, written in 1988, defines HFE as, "the specialized engineering discipline concerned with ensuring that platforms, systems, individual equipments, and software are designed to match the capabilities and limitations of the personnel who have been selected and trained to operate and maintain them".(3) It is of interest to note that all three definitions emphasize designing the equipment, systems, software, etc. around the human being, and that the design must include the human in the role of both operator and maintainer. In each of the above examples the authors expanded on their definitions by subdividing HFE into specific and unique technical areas of expertise, each of which must be adequately covered in order for the total HFE effort to be completed. Although the number of areas differ among the publications the basic grouping remains constant. Thus, it is generally accepted that HFE is comprised of the following basic elements:Proper prediction, selection, training, and assignment of personnel (i.e. manpower, personnel, training)Proper life support for the human's health, safety, comfort, and job readiness (i.e. habitability design and environmental control)Proper preparation and provision of operator/ maintainer job aids (i.e. manuals, instruction placards, hazard identification signs, etc.)Proper design and placement of controls and displays, provision of adequate access, correct layout of the work station or console, proper sequencing and layout of equipments in a room, proper labeling, and overall maximizing of the design of hardware/software to match the humans capabilities (i.e. human engineering).

Although all of the sub-elements described above are equally important in achieving a total HFE effort, this paper will deal only with that of human engineering (HE)

BACKGROUND

With at least a half century of existence and experience, HE is not a new idea, either as an engineering discipline or a design philosophy. Yet, its acceptance and systematic application by trained specialists in the military shipbuilding world has only occurred.