Web-based Operator Training System
Author(s)
Manel Serra, Erika Franco, Lluís Rumi, José María Ferrer, José María Nougués (Inprocess)
Magazine
2017. Proceedings of the 27th Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering – ESCAPE 27
Abstract/Summary
Producing plants must be safe and reliable. Plant Safety is strongly dependent on how well people responsible for running the facility (control room operators, CRO) is aware of its operation. Improving the understanding and awareness is the goal of any training to CROs, hence, their trainings must be carried out in an environment as similar as possible to the one they will find in their work, like airplane pilots do with flight simulators, in order to be minimally qualified to carry out their job tasks. And this is the objective of the Operator Training Systems (OTS): deliver training to CROs in a replica of their working environment, maximizing its effectiveness. Matching the availability of the training facilities (comprising instructor) with the one of the CRO can be crucial in easing to achieve an on-time learning activity. That’s why, in the traditional approach to the OTS, these training systems live in a training room, typically close to the actual control room they emulate. The universalization of internet connections, even in the most remote locations, and the evolution of the software technologies to support and enable mobility bring new opportunities to training systems. Those OTS systems that had to be physically deployed at every site where operators were trained can now be remote by combining some of the latest developments: e-learning standards (like the well-established SCORM or AICC), sound software applications used to develop and deploy OTS (dynamic process simulators, control system emulators…) and the latest technologies on virtualization. This distributed framework does not only facilitate scalability of the training sessions or overall system maintenance, but it also grants access to comprehensive training to more people in many different conditions, even to people in the same company that are in charge of similar processes. The return of investment in training and education is then maximized by easing the access to many more people.
