Coretex Consulting is supporting various projects and the Water Corporation to include Human Factors Engineering (HFE) within desalination projects and the Water Industry more broadly. These include Exmouth, Perth and Southern desalination plants and the Alkimos trunk main project. We specialise in applying HFE within the Water Industry and are also supporting the industry to develop and define HFE as field of engineering given the absence of any current industry guidelines.
What does the approach look like?
Coretex Consulting integrates Human Factors Engineering (HFE) into Water Industry and desalination plant project phases through a structured program of early analysis, stakeholder engagement, and risk-based design input. We will begin with an Early Human Factors Analysis (EHFA) to identify complexity, novelty, and critical risk areas, then develop an HFE Integration framework to map required activities and deliverables across future project stages.
Engagement with the project, alliance, operaters, and end-users ensures user-centred design principles guide decisions, supported by targeted HFE training and lessons-learnt reviews. Attendance at key design reviews (HAZID, HAZOP, operability, constructability, Safety in Design) will embed HFE into decision-making, while specialist studies (e.g., material handling review, psychosocial hazard identification) will address safety, usability, and maintainability. This structured and collaborative approach reduces human error, enhances HSE outcomes, optimises operability and maintainability.
The approach includes applying HFE principles during design reviews, risk assessments, and constructability/operability studies to ensure systems are intuitive, usable, and safe. HFE considerations will be addressed through existing project processes, such as design verification workshops, task analyses, and human reliability reviews ensuring that critical user tasks, error potential, and operability are assessed alongside engineering and safety requirements. Engagement with end-users and discipline engineers will be maintained to capture Work-as-Done perspectives, and outcomes will be tracked through the project’s established review and action-management mechanisms. This integrated approach ensures that human performance and usability are considered proportionately and effectively.
