Apparatus and method for managing operator alertness and enhancing operator effectiveness for industrial control systems

1. A method comprising:

using at least one processing device:

receiving activity data from a plurality of sensors associated with at least a portion of an industrial process system, wherein the activity data comprises data from a first set of sensors configured to monitor a response to prior alarms and data from a second set of sensors configured to monitor physiology of an operator;

monitoring the activity data to identify a period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the period of inactivity, issuing a first alarm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first alarm is an audible or visual alert.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

responsive to issuing the first alarm, monitoring the activity data to identify a second period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the second period of inactivity, issuing a second alarm.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving physiological data from the second set of sensors;

determining an alertness level of the operator from the physiological data;

comparing the alertness level to a threshold; and

responsive to the alertness level exceeding the threshold, issuing the first alarm.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying the period of inactivity for a previous alarm period.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the physiological data comprises at least one of brain activity data of the operator, posture data of the operator, and eyelid data of the operator.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

logging the first alarm in a historical database.

8. An apparatus comprising:

at least one memory configured to store activity data from a plurality of sensors associated with at least a portion of an industrial process system, wherein the activity data comprises data from a first set of sensors configured to monitor a response to prior alarms and data from a second set of sensors configured to monitor physiology of an operator; and

at least one processing device configured to:

monitor the activity data to identify a period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the period of inactivity, issue a first alarm.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first alarm is an audible or visual alert.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to:

responsive to issuing the first alarm, monitor the activity data to identify a second period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the second period of inactivity, issue a second alarm.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:

the at least one memory is configured to store physiological data from the second set of sensors; and

the at least one processing device is further configured to:

determine an alertness level of the operator from the physiological data;

compare the alertness level to a threshold; and

responsive to the alertness level exceeding the threshold, issue the first alarm.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to:

identify the period of inactivity for a previous alarm period.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the physiological data comprises at least one of brain activity data of the operator, posture data of the operator, and eyelid data of the operator.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to:

log the first alarm in a historical database.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:

receiving activity data from a plurality of sensors associated with at least a portion of an industrial process system, wherein the activity data comprises data from a first set of sensors configured to monitor a response to prior alarms and data from a second set of sensors configured to monitor physiology of an operator;

monitoring the activity data to identify a period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the period of inactivity, issuing a first alarm.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first alarm is an audible or visual alert.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising computer readable program code for:

responsive to issuing the first alarm, monitoring the activity data to identify a second period of inactivity of the first and second sets of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to identifying the second period of inactivity, issuing a second alarm.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising computer readable program code for:

receiving physiological data from the second set of sensors;

determining an alertness level of the operator from the physiological data;

comparing the alertness level to a threshold; and

responsive to the alertness level exceeding the threshold, issuing the first alarm.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising computer readable program code for:

identifying the period of inactivity for a previous alarm period.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the physiological data comprises at least one of brain activity data of the operator, posture data of the operator, and eyelid data of the operator.