Human Factors and Interfaces Between Operators, Processes, and Plants in the Italian Technical Standards

The Seveso III Directive 2012/18/EU imposes an obligation to take into due consideration the human factors and the interfaces between operators, processes, and plants, as part of the implementation of the Safety Management System. The national technical standard UNI 10616:2022 provides guidelines for implementing a safety management system, describing the procedures and technical tools useful for achieving specific objectives for the prevention of major accidents. In the standard, specific attention is paid to the human-machine interface (HMI). In close connection, it is considered the prevention and assessment of human error, a fundamental aspect of process safety management. A good, designed man-machine interface, in the control room of a process plant, allows you to minimize the possibility of operator error on the panel. The assessment of the possibility of human error must be used in the reliability analysis to verify if the procedures and operational controls adopted to improve the behavior of the operator or the instrumental controls give the best contribution to the safety of the system, preparing any corrective actions, also in terms of response times and emergency management of the operators, to reduce the possibility of accidents. The consideration of the human factors and the interfaces between operators, processes, and plants, in the correct implementation of a safety management system must be finally based on the functionality of the operator/process and operator/equipment interfaces to monitor the process, identify any anomalies or emergencies, and implement the planned intervention procedures.