High-Fidelity Simulation-Based Training for Control Room and Field Operators

The evolution of process and automation technology has made operator contribution to safe, reliable and profitable process operations even more important.

Control room and field operators are called upon to perform increasingly skilled and complex tasks including handling abnormal situations to performing proactive prevention, detection and mitigation activities. This involves working with an increasingly complex variety of processes and assets.

Operator Training Simulators (OTS) are one of the most effective tools to safely, quickly, and consistently develop and maintain competent operators. OTSs substitute for operations training and combined with sound strategies provide a clear path towards the development and sustainment of competencies. In this framework, the accuracy and fidelity of simulations play a significant role to ensure that presented scenarios truly reflect what operators will see in the control room and the field. Additionally, to maximize the benefits derived from the simulator, the provision of timely assessment and feedback during training sessions and the extension of solutions to include immersive scenarios and team-based training is paramount.

Operator Training Simulators must be part of a broad frame approach to operations training that explicitly takes competencies into account. This requires organizations to reimagine their training approaches to combine high fidelity simulations with comprehensive training programs that can be applied at scale.