Proceedings of the 2005 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium Ellen J. Bass, ed. ABSTRACT The Ballast Control system, part of the Vessel Manage- ment System (VMS), allows operators of an offshore oil drilling platform to use the vessel’s fluid control system to keep the vessel at an even keel. This procedure is critical during the drilling process and for the overall safety of the ship. Based on a heuristic evaluation of the ballast control operator interface for a vessel being commissioned, this paper describes a prototype which implements Human Computer Interface (HCI) design principles that were lack- ing in the original displays. The former design included elements of information overload, poor shape and coloring of icons, inconsistent layouts, and inadequate menu de- signs. We prototyped a simulation plus operator interface to explore improvements in these areas and for enabling future students in the US-Brazil exchange program to un- derstand and build on the current design. This paper re- views the existing ballast control operator interface on the Pride do Rio oil drilling platform and describes the features of the new prototype simulation system. 1 INTRODUCTION Ballast control systems are a vital part of semi-submersible oil platforms. The ballast control system is made up of a network of pipes, valves, pumps, and tanks which work as a liquid control system to keep the vessel at an even keel. Drilling for oil in the ocean has extreme environmental risks. Thus, the effective design of the user interface for the ballast control system contributes to overall safety of the ship’s crew and the environment. We analyzed an implemented system in order to iden- tify possible design issues regarding ballast control inter- faces as well as to better understand how the operator in- teracts with the system. Using observations as a basis for a heuristic evaluation of the current system and a cognitive task analysis of the activities and needs for such a system, we developed a prototype of an improved ballast control system. 2 MOTIVATION The threat of disaster is the main reason to provide the op- erators with the most effective system possible. One such disaster occurred in 2001 aboard Petrobras’ P36 oil plat- form. At the time, this vessel was the largest offshore oil platform in the world (CNN, cnn.com/world). The plat- form was located in the Roncador oil field off the coast of Brazil. Unfortunately, on March 15, 2001, the platform began to sink after a series of explosions. Many small, improbable events came together to cause this disaster. Slightly after midnight on March 15, the star- board drain storage tank ruptured, which released gas, oil, and water into the fourth level of the starboard aft column, the column in the right, rear quadrant of the vessel (Valerio and Dias, 2002, presentation 4, p. 55). These materials were able to flood the column because of a series of faulty pumps and valves. The gas and oil found an ignition source at the top of the column and caused an even larger chemical explosion. This explosion killed the 11 firefight- ers that had responded to the first explosion (Rios de Cam- pos Rosa, 2002, p.13). The ballast control operators tried to stabilize the vessel by moving water into the portside forward column to counterbalance the flooding on the op- posite side. Their efforts failed and they were unable to regain equilibrium (Valerio and Dias, 2002, p. 59). Evacuation of nonessential personnel began at 1:44 am. Helicopters rescued the final crew members at 6 am (Rios de Campos Rosa, 2002, p. 17). 164 of the 175 crew mem- bers survived this disaster. Crews attempted to flood the vessel with Nitrogen to salvage the platform. Their attempts proved futile as the platform sunk completely into the Atlantic Ocean five days after the explosions. Cleanup crews treated approximately 350 m 3 of oil that had spilled into the Atlantic (Rios de Campos Rosa, 2002, p. 21). Petrobras estimated losses of $100 million per month following the disaster (CNN, cnn.com/world). DESIGNING A BALLAST CONTROL SYSTEM OPERATOR INTERFACE Michael Manzi, Babak Soltani, Stephanie Guerlain guerlain@virginia.edu Systems and Information Engineering Dept. University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA Priscilla Antonello, Jessé Queres Jr, José Orlando Gomes joseorlando@nce.ufrj.br Industrial Engineering Dept. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL