Elephant in the Control Room is Fatigue

Someone asked for this presentation, which I did at the American Petroleum Institute Control Room Forum in November 2010.  It was already on the site.  For more information on fatigue, look at the categories.  Thanks for your interest.  E-mail charles@charlesalday.com for additional information.

There’s an Elephant in the Control Room-v4

Posted February 21st, 2011 in 2011 Control Room Management, Human Factors, Managing Fatigue

Sleep Is Important Every Day – I’m Angry!

I’m angry at myself!   Monday morning,  I decided to go to bed at 10pm because I had to get up at 6am Tuesday.   And i know that about eight hours of sleep is what I need every 24 hours.  Monday night I went to bed at 11:45pm.    I decided to catch up on some accounting tasks in my office, make travel arrangements for upcoming business trips, and clean up the office.

When the alarm went off Tuesday morning, did I leap out of bed?  No, I hit snooze several times, finally got up at 6:30am, rushed to get ready, and was stressed before my appointment.

Why do I stay up late?  I’m typical, according to surveys by the National Sleep Foundation.  People attempt to cram many activities into their waking hours, and extend the waking hours into hours when we should be asleep.  I am sure none of you do that.

Read the attached article to learn why sleep is important, and do not follow my example from Monday.  Follow my example from Tuesday night and Wednesday night when I slept eight hours and nine hours.  I feel better today!

Why Sleep Is Important

Posted February 10th, 2011 in 2011 Managing Fatigue Articles, Human Factors, Managing Fatigue

Why Managing Fatigue Is Important – Someone Has to Watch

For some must watch, while some must sleep. Thus runs the world away. ~ Shakespeare

Human beings watch all night in control centers, hospitals, factories, police stations and many places in the modern world. Pipeline controllers “control and monitor.”   It’s that monitoring function that is difficult, particularly in highly automated environments.  Those who watch also want to sleep, but they must not.

An editorial in The Deseret News questions how long a pipeline company can monitor the start up of a pipeline that had experienced a leak.  Although the start up plan required on-site monitoring for several days, monitoring will eventually be done from a control room and it can be done properly with instruments and technology and people.  The editorial states, “It isn’t feasible to expect a company to continue carefully watching a pipeline forever.”

That is the exact expectation, and pipeline companies are continually watching pipelines.  It is not done with people standing along miles and miles of pipeline corridors.  It is done from a control center.  This is a reason that managing fatigue is important.

Please read the article below and give it to others.

Why Managing Fatigue Is Important

Posted February 9th, 2011 in 2011 Managing Fatigue Articles, Human Factors, Managing Fatigue