Hardwired critical action panels for emergency preparedness: Design principles and cap design for offshore petroleum platforms

Abstract

Critical action panels (CAPs) are hardwired safety panels installed in control rooms of oil and gas platforms. They are used as redundant backup for safe shutdown in cases where software systems fail. The panels of many installations in the North Sea today do not follow modern standards and regulatory requirements, while other installations have not yet implemented CAP panels. These use instead large safety matrices, which can cause information overload as they are also used for process operation. This paper presents design principles for modern CAP design followed by a conceptual CAP design layout. The design rationale is primarily based on a study for an operational installation on the Norwegian continental shelf. Regulatory demands as well as user requirements and needs were followed to create a functional display. The objective of the design was maintaining the user's situation awareness while harmonizing with the software-based interfaces in the control room. The CAP design was reviewed against requirements and proved acceptable. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.