Designing and testing corrective actions using a desktop publishing system

Detailed control-room design reviews identified many human-engineering discrepancies (HEDs) which result from poor layout, arrangement, or identification of control room components. The author describes corrective actions that must be developed to address these HEDs. He suggests that the use of a personal-computer (PC)-based desktop publishing system provides a flexible and economical means of designing them. He concludes that the use of a desktop publishing system provides a flexible path for producing enhanced control panel drawings and ease of updating such drawings. The drawings produced using this system can clearly indicate pain/tape modifications and component relocations. The use of this system has shown advantages over such design aids as photographic bluelines or manual drafting. The materials produced using the desktop publishing system methodology have also enhanced the review cycle for corrective actions between plant operations, design engineers, and human-factors experts.<>