The role of withheld information in the training of process plant fault diagnosis

Abstract

To diagnose plant failures from information displayed in the control room, trainee operators need some strategy to enable them to seek and evaluate relevant data. An approach previously found promising is to give trainees practice with diagnostic rules of thumb. However, it is difficult to ensure that trainees actually apply these rules in subsequent fault-finding when indications are presented on a control panel. In these experiments, indications were withheld from trainees until requested, enabling the instructor to encourage the application of rules by controlling the way in which information was acquired. It was possible to reduce practice trials greatly and yet maintain high levels of diagnostic accuracy with familiar and novel failures in both presented and withheld modes. Trainees practised in the presented mode did not perform as well, and accuracy further declined when tested in the withheld mode. An implementation with technical college students partly replicated the laboratory study. Implications of current changes in plant control rooms are discussed in relation to the previous experience and training of operators.