Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries, Module Four: Human Factors in Design
Online | Face-to-face | In-company
Overview
This human factors course examines the key human factors principles to address at the design stage, looking at how to integrate human factors within engineering programmes, how to develop effective procedures, human machine interfaces, and process plant and control room design.
The design of control rooms, plant and equipment can have a major impact on human performance. The earlier that human factors are considered in the design process the better, reducing the risk of human error and accidents.
This is module four of our Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries training programme, which provides practical insight into the key human factors issues facing the industries. You can attend as a one-off course, or alongside our other human factors modules to get a comprehensive overview of the subject.
Course outline
Integrating human factors in design
- Key human factors issues to address within design
- Key HFE activities at different life cycle phases
- HFE roles, responsibilities and competencies
- Risk screening for HFE
- Setting up a corporate standard for HFE in capital projects
Developing effective procedures
- Introduction: to err is human
- Procedures and risk – when things to wrong
- Creating safety – when procedures are safety critical
- Procedures as part of risk management
- How to develop good procedures
- How to write usable procedures
- Putting procedures to work and managing change
- Developing usable procedures
Human machine interface
- Human Machine Interface design
- Displays and controls
- Principle of compatibility
- Control panel design
- Software interfaces and alarm handling
- Case study review of a major accident
Plant and control room design
- Plant design: work area design and access; design for maintenance; materials handling; environmental ergonomics.
- Building and control room design: building arrangement; control rooms; workstations/consoles; environmental ergonomics.
Learning outcomes
- Understand how to integrate human factors in design
- Understand how to develop effective and safe procedures
- Understand human machine interface design
- Understand how to integrate human factors into plant and control room design.
Who will benefit?
The course content is at an awareness level and is ideally suited to:
- engineering project managers or HSE managers who are responsible for the integration of human factors in design
- specific disciplines, eg process engineers, controls and instrumentation engineers, piping engineers, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers.
What delegates say
Previous delegates said this course would help them to:
- improve human factors awareness in design and safety assessments
- introduce more ergonomics and human factors details into HAZOP studies
- design human centred plant and processes
- review Management of Change and HAZOP processes to ensure that human factors engineering is captured
- develop a company standard for project activity that includes human factors requirements
- introduce the processes and systems covered on the course into a plant expansion project
- update operating procedures to cover human factors requirements
- develop a human factors strategy for the business
- identify and close gaps in current systems
- define human factors activity with consultants
- become a more effective advisor when supporting capital projects.
Upcoming courses
Online
Online courses consist of four live and interactive sessions with the trainers. There will also be some work to complete independently before the course and between the live sessions. More details will be provided after you have registered.
From 1 December 2025
- Session 1 – 1 December 2025, 09:30–12:30 OR 13:30–16:30 GMT
- Session 2 – 2 December 2025, 09:30–12:30 OR 13:30–16:30 GMT
- Session 3 – 3 December 2025, 09:30–12:30 OR 13:30–16:30 GMT
- Session 4 – 4 December 2025, 09:30–12:30 OR 13:30–16:30 GMT
Live sessions are delivered via Microsoft Teams. If you don't already have this installed, you can join as a guest in order to access the training.
Face-to-face
- 11–12 December 2025, Rugby, UK
Pre-course reading is issued beforehand as preparation for the course.
Not available then?
Register your interest in alternative dates.
Fees – book early and save 20%
Book any live online or face-to-face training course before 31 January 2025 and SAVE 20%! Simply use discount code EARLY20 at checkout.
- Single module – £2,200 + VAT
- Book all four modules together: £1,650 + VAT per module
Terms and conditions: offer applies to live online or face-to-face course bookings made between 2 December 2024 and 31 January 2025. Applies to both member and non-member prices but cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer eg multi-place discounts. Registration must be confirmed and paid by 31 January 2025.
How to register
Select your preferred course from the list of upcoming start dates and go to the 'Book course' button at the bottom of the page.
More human factors training
- Module One – Managing Human Factors
- Module Two – Managing Human Failure
- Module Three – Strengthening Organisational Performance
You can attend single modules or all four depending on your training needs. Modules can be completed in any order.
Learn more about the Human Factors in the Chemical and Process Industries programme.
In-company training
Our human factors training can be delivered to corporate teams, either on-site or online. This could be a cost-effective option if you have several people requiring the training. Content can be tailored to your specific requirements. Request a quotation.
Attendance certificate & CPD hours
An e-certificate will be issued at the end of the course to confirm attendance and CPD hours logged. Please note that you must attend the whole course to receive the certificate.
In the case of online courses, CPD hours should be used as an approximate guide and will vary depending on the preferred approach of the delegate and to what extent additional learning is completed.
Endorsements
In partnership with:
Trainer
Plato Chan
The Keil Centre
Plato is a chartered member of the Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics in the UK with 17 years’ experience in the field. Prior to joining the Keil Centre, he worked as a consultant, an in-house specialist on product research and development, and a human factors manager for a public transport operator. Throughout his career, he has been involved in managing human factors processes within a safety management system, and he has delivered human factors training for a wide variety of industries including chemical, oil and gas, marine, and rail companies across the globe. He has also conducted human reliability analysis, control room design, safety critical task analysis and workload studies for clients in the chemical and oil and gas sectors.
Trainer
Richard Scaife
Director, The Keil Centre
Richard is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, a Chartered Ergonomics and Human Factors Specialist, a Fellow of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and a Chartered Scientist. He has a BSc in applied Psychology, an MSc in Occupational Psychology, and over 30 years of practical ergonomics experience within various industries. Before joining the Keil Centre, he spent six years working for National Air Traffic Services, latterly as the head of human safety in their human factors unit, and four years working on the design of military sensor systems, primarily for aircraft. Richard specialises in all aspects of human factors, particularly organisational safety, human safety analysis (including human error) and incident investigation. He has cross-industry experience, providing consultancy expertise and training. He was awarded the British Psychological Society Practitioner of the Year Award in 2006.