By ANDREW SUTHERLAND, Director and Human Factors Specialist, HF Integration Pty Ltd
Andrew Sutherland is the Director of HF Integration, a leading human factors consultancy based in Perth. He is a Human Factors Specialist, with over 20 years’ experience in providing practical human factors support to hazardous industries, including heavy haul rail, energy, resources, and defence. He holds Masters qualifications in psychology and human factors, and in 2015 was elected as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Andrew leads the technical team at HF Integration, who are currently helping companies to identify and manage the human factors risks associated with their rapid decarbonisation plans. Andrew Sutherland and his colleague Nat Griffiths (HF Specialist) have prepared the following article on hydrogen from a human factors perspective.
Hydrogen has emerged as a promising energy source for the future, as it is clean, versatile, and abundant. The hydrogen industry is expected to grow quickly over the coming years, with increased demand from various sectors, including transportation, power generation, and industrial processing. However, as the hydrogen industry develops, it brings with it a range of potential human factors issues that need to be addressed to ensure safe and efficient operations. These can be easily overlooked in the rush to implement new hydrogen solutions, but the management of human factors risk is critical to the success of these projects.
This article considers how hydrogen’s physical properties, and the manner in which it will be transported and used by both industry and the general public, emphasise the importance of taking a user-centred approach to its introduction, and managing human factors risk. Methods for human factors risk management within process safety are already available, and they must be included in asset risk assessments and safety studies in this fast-moving industry.
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