A trend can be observed towards grouping and shifting local operations to centralized remote lock operation centers(RLOCs) due to costs and limitations in personnel resources and the increasing automation level of technicalsystems. However, safety-critical activities still require active monitoring of processes by a human operator withhelp of adequate technical systems and interfaces. Therefore, many video images and abstract representations mustbe shown simultaneously at one workplace to guarantee an all-inclusive overview. Given this situation, it has to bedetermined from an ergonomic point of view how many systems (e.g. lock chambers) can be controlled by oneoperator. Therefore, the challenge is to develop a new efficient and ergonomic control concept for RLOCs thatprevents straining work conditions in terms of mental over- and underload. This control concept should enable theshort-term and situation-dependent allocation of systems to operators. Moreover, prospective personnel resourceplanning and the design of the control panels have to be adapted to the control concept and human performancefactors.

The following paper presents a study covering the analysis of tasks and processes in remote lock operation centersaround Germany including soft- and hardware design components in use. Based on the results, a new conceptintegrating ergonomic requirements for remote control and monitoring has been developed. This concept enables theassignment of optimal workload to one workplace by determining the potential straining condition within one shift.For the purpose of integrating prospective and retrospective evaluation, a practical guide for personnel managementand scheduling has been developed. It includes a questionnaire and calculation specifications that can be genericallyadapted to other remote operation centers. In addition to the strain which is evoked by the main tasks of lock controland monitoring, it also considers the impact of additional tasks. Based on the developed concept for remote controland monitoring and in accordance with the assessed ergonomic design requirements, the control panel layout hasbeen determined with regard to anthropometric dimensions.