ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the application and the impact of ergonomics in control room environments globally and in various industry applications. Today, ergonomics plays a prominent role in the design of mission critical facilities, and its role continues to grow as companies and agencies start to see the impact that it has on the efficiency and the safety of operations. Control Rooms are both operationally complex and technologically sophisticated environments. As such, they are often seen as early adopters of either breakthrough technology or innovative approaches to resolving complex monitoring applications. The human-machine interface (HMI) is continuously evolving, and ergonomics, no doubt, is taking a more prominent role. On the other hand, control rooms often have to deal with legacy equipment and processes that are often decades behind the current technology trends. This is largely due to the complexity of the processes and the ongoing challenge of replacing infrastructure that has been in place for a long time. These and many others operating realities and challenges make control rooms a very interesting environment when viewed from the perspective of ergonomics.
