We support organisations in designing control rooms to improve safety, performance and usability.
Designing a Control Room is not just about equipment and technology. It’s about the humans who will operate it.
With 20+ years of experience in Human Factors, we support technology suppliers across the full control room design lifecycle, at different maturity phases, from early concept definition to operational validation.
With human needs always at the centre of the process.
Book a free 30-minute call with one of our experts to assess your Control Room needs and plan the next steps together.
What happens when Human Factors are addressed too late (or not at all)
Control room layouts are designed around systems and equipment rather than how operators actually work. Workstation interfaces increase cognitive load, and coordination between operators and systems becomes inefficient.
Designing control rooms with a Human-centred approach from the start
Control room layouts and operator interfaces are shaped around real tasks, workflows, and coordination needs. Operator interactions with systems are optimised and aligned with operational demands.
Our services integrate smoothly with engineering activities and support the design of operational environments that are efficient and compliant with relevant ISO standards (ISO 11064, ISO 9241, ISO 6385, ISO/CIE 8995-1, ISO 7731).
Define what the control room must support, based on real scenarios and constraints.
Understand how operators work, decide, and interact with systems. Integration of automation and AI is considered at this stage.
Assess and design 3D physical workspaces and workstations for visibility, reach, and comfort.
Design Human-Machine Interfaces to reduce cognitive load and align interfaces with operations.
Test and validate layouts and workflows before implementation with simulations leveraging Virtual Reality.
Ensure alignment with ISO, directives and safety regulations.
Ideally early, before the layout of the room is fixed. That said, we can also run our analyses afterwards and step in during upgrades and/or redesigns of the Control Room.
We consider compliance with international standards as fundamental in the HF Assessment. Our assessment for Control Rooms considers the following standards: ISO 11064-1:2000 (Ergonomic design of control centres), ISO 9241-971:2020 (Ergonomics of human-system interaction), ISO 6385 (Ergonomics principles in the design of work systems), ISO/CIE 8995-1:2025 (Light and lighting – Lighting of work places) and ISO: 7731 (Ergonomics – Danger signals for public and work areas – Auditory danger signals)
We align perfectly with engineering workflows as our assessment covers all phases from concept to validation. The outputs we produce are structured to support engineering decisions and documentation.
It depends on the project stage and scope. For existing control rooms, a focused assessment could be completed in a few weeks. For new designs, Human Factors support typically runs alongside the project across multiple phases. In all cases, we define a timeline tailored to your project needs and certification requirements.
Schedule a free 30-minute Human Factors session
The session will be about: