{{Short description|Room from which a facility is controlled}} {{For multi|the documentary film|Control Room (film)|the television drama|The Control Room}} {{Other uses|Control center (disambiguation){{!}}Control center|Production control room{{!}}Television production control room}} {{more citations needed|date=September 2010}} [[File:Control room - Lucens reactor - 1968 - L17-0251-0105.jpg| thumb| The [[Lucens reactor]]'s control room]]
[[Image:Mission control center.jpg|thumb|right|[[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|NASA's "Shuttle" (White) Flight Control Room]] in Houston, Texas]]
A '''control room''' or '''operations room''' is a central space where a large physical facility (such as a [[power plant]]) or physically dispersed service (such as a network of [[Automatic train operation|driverless transit trains]]) can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger [[command center]].
== Overview == A control room's purpose is [[production control]], and serves as a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. Central control rooms came into general use in factories during the 1920s.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Control Engineering 1930-1955 |last=Bennett |first= S. |year=1993 |publisher =Peter Peregrinus Ltd. On behalf of the Institution of Electrical Engineers|location= London|isbn= 0-86341-280-7}}</ref>
Control rooms for vital facilities are typically tightly secured and inaccessible to the general public. Multiple [[electronic display]]s and [[control panel (engineering)|control panel]]s are usually present, and there may also be a large [[display wall|wall-sized display area]] visible from all locations within the space. Some control rooms are themselves under continuous [[video surveillance]] and recording, for security and personnel accountability purposes. Many control rooms are occupied on a "[[24/7/365]]" basis, and may have multiple people on duty at all times (such as implementation of a "[[two-man rule]]"), to ensure continuous vigilance.
Other special-purpose control room spaces may be temporarily set up for special projects (such as an [[oceanography|oceanographic exploration]] mission), and closed or dismantled once the project is concluded.
== Examples == [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0221-029, Greifswald, Störfall im Kernkraftwerk.jpg|thumb|[[Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant]] control room in 1990.]] Control rooms are typically found in installations such as: * [[Nuclear power plant]]s and other [[power station|power-generating stations]] * [[Electric power distribution]] companies and other Utilities * [[oil refinery|Oil refineries]] and [[chemical plant]]s * Airlines, where they are often referred to as operations control centers, and are responsible for flight operations dispatch, monitoring and support * Major transportation facilities such as [[bridge]]s, [[tunnel]]s, [[canal]]s and [[rapid transit]] systems, where they are often staffed 24 hours a day to monitor and report on [[traffic congestion]] and to respond to emergencies * Military facilities (ranging in scale from a [[missile silo]] to [[North American Aerospace Defense Command|NORAD]]), also referred to as [[operations room]]s * [[NASA]] [[flight controller]]s work in several "flight control rooms" in [[mission control center]]s; affiliated facilities, such as the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] have their own control rooms * Computerized [[data center]]s, often serving remote users in multiple [[time zones]] * [[Network operations center]]s * Large institutions such as [[universities]], [[hospitals]], major research facilities (such as [[particle accelerator]] laboratories), [[high security prison]]s, and [[theme park]]s * Facilities which handle calls to the [[emergency services]] including [[police]], [[Fire department|fire service]] and [[emergency medical service]] * [[Call center]]s, which may use them to monitor incoming and outgoing communications of customer service representatives, and to provide general oversight * Rail operations centers, such as the [[Union Pacific Harriman Dispatch Center]], control rail operations over thousands of miles of railroad. [[Train dispatcher]]s staff these facilities around the clock to manage efficient rail operations. In the UK, they are usually operated separately by each train operating company or by Network Rail, and include train crew and rolling stock resourcing.
==Special hazards and mitigation== {{See also|Area of refuge}} Control rooms are usually equipped with elaborate [[Fire suppression systems|fire suppression]] and [[security system]]s to safeguard their contents and occupants, and to ensure continued operation in emergencies. In hazardous environments, they may also be [[area of refuge|areas of refuge]] for personnel trapped on-site. They are typically crowded with equipment, mounted in multi-function [[rack mount]] cabinets to allow updating. The concentration of equipment often requires special electrical [[uninterruptible power supply]] (UPS) feeds and [[air conditioning]].
Since the control equipment is intended to control other items in the surrounding facility, these often [[fire-resistance rating|fire-resistance rated]] service rooms require many [[penetration (firestop)|penetration]]s for cables. Due to routine equipment updates, these penetrations are subject to frequent changes, requiring maintenance programs to include vigilant [[firestop]] management for [[building code|code]] compliance.
Due to the sensitive equipment in control room cabinets, it is useful to ensure the use of [[Fire-resistance rating|"T-rated"]] firestops that are massive and thick enough to resist heat transmission to the inside of the control room. It is also common to place control rooms under [[positive pressure ventilation]] to prevent [[smoke]] or toxic gases from entering. If used, gaseous fire suppressants must occupy the space that is to be protected for a minimum period of time to be sure a fire can be completely extinguished. Openings in such spaces must therefore be kept to a minimum to prevent the escape of the suppression gas.
A mobile control room is designated as particularly in high risk facilities, such as a nuclear power station or a petrochemical facility.{{elucidate|date=April 2013}} It can provided a guaranteed life support for the anticipated safety control.
==Design== The design of a control room incorporates [[ergonomic]] and [[aesthetic]] features including optimum traffic flow, acoustics, illumination, and health and safety of the workers.<ref name="Control Room Design">{{cite web|last1=Design|first1=Control Room|title=Control Room Design|url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/techmeascontrol.htm|website=Control Room Design - HSE|access-date=12 January 2016|ref=Control Room Design}}</ref> Ergonomic considerations determine the placement of humans and equipment to ensure that operators can easily move into, out of, and around the control room, and can interact with each other without any hindrances during emergency situations; and to keep noise and other distractions to a minimum.
Ergonomic control room design, through early assessment, optimized layout, well-managed alarms and [[acoustics]], enhances performance, situational awareness, and operator well-being.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Piso |first=E. |date=1981-08-01 |title=Ergonomic Evaluation of Control Rooms: Two Case Studies |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474667017639831 |journal=IFAC Proceedings Volumes |series=8th IFAC World Congress on Control Science and Technology for the Progress of Society, Kyoto, Japan, 24-28 August 1981 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=3455–3461 |doi=10.1016/S1474-6670(17)63983-1 |issn=1474-6670|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
International standards like [https://motilde.com/en/iso-11064-optimising-ergonomics-of-control-rooms/ ISO 11064] provide guidelines for ergonomic control room design and are used worldwide across many industries.
==In popular culture== Control room scenes dealing with crisis situations appear frequently in [[thriller novel]]s and [[action film]]s. In addition, a few [[documentaries]] have been filmed with scenes in real-life control room settings. <!-- Please keep this list in CHRONOLOGICAL order --> * ''[[Fail-Safe (1964 film)|Fail-Safe]]'' - a 1964 Cold war thriller film directed by [[Sidney Lumet]], based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It portrays a fictional account of a [[Cold War]] nuclear crisis. * ''[[The Prisoner]]'' - a 1967 British television series (17 episodes), which follows a British former secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a mysterious coastal village resort where his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. * ''[[The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 film)|The Taking of Pelham One Two Three]]'' - a 1974 American thriller film directed by [[Joseph Sargent]], produced by Edgar J. Scherick, and starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Héctor Elizondo. Peter Stone adapted the screenplay, from the 1973 novel of the same name by Morton Freedgood (under the pen name John Godey) about a group of criminals taking hostage for ransom the passengers of a busy [[New York City Subway]] car. * ''[[The China Syndrome]]'' - a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a [[nuclear power plant]]. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, with Douglas also serving as the film's producer. * ''[[GoldenEye]]'' - a 1995 spy film, and 17th in the [[James Bond]] franchise, features 2 control rooms used for [[Command and control]] of a fictitious satellite based weapon, the original control room belonging to the USSR and a replica built by the Janus Crime Syndicate who have taken possession of the satellite for nefarious purposes. The latter also featured as a [[Level (gaming)|playable level]] in the [[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|videogame of the same name]] for the [[Nintendo 64]]. * ''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'' - a 2002 American [[neo-noir]] science fiction thriller film directed by [[Steven Spielberg]], and loosely based on the short story of the same name by [[Philip K. Dick]]. It is set primarily in Washington DC, and Northern Virginia in the year 2054, where "PreCrime", a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three [[psychic]]s called "precogs". * ''[[Control Room (film)|Control Room]]'' - a 2004 documentary film about [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] and its relations with the US Central Command (CENTCOM), as well as the other news organizations that covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
==Image gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:ISS Flight Control Room 2006.jpg|[[NASA]] control for the [[International Space Station]] (ISS) File:Russian ISS Flight Control Room.jpg|[[RKA Mission Control Center|Russian mission control]] for the ISS File:Control room pt tupper.jpg|[[Fossil fuel power plant]] in [[Nova Scotia, Canada]] File:Itaipu 1177.JPG|[[Hydroelectric power]] [[Itaipu dam]] jointly operated by Brazil and Paraguay File:RIAN archive 305015 Leningrad nuclear power plant.jpg|[[Nuclear power plant]] in [[Saint Petersburg, Russia]] File:Engine control room on oil tanker.jpg|Engine control for an [[oil tanker]] ship File:USS Seawolf (SSN 21) Control Room HighRes.jpg|[[Submarine]] [[USS Seawolf (SSN 21)]] File:NewsHourControlRoom2005.jpg|''[[The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]]'' broadcast newsroom File:Leitstand 2.jpg|German [[Incineration|solid waste incinerator]] File:EUMETSAT MSG control.jpg|[[Meteorological satellite]] control in Germany File:DZero Control.jpg|[[DZero experiment]] [[particle accelerator]] File:Control room Linac 2 CERN.jpg| [[Linear accelerator]] <br/> [[CERN Hadron Linacs#Linac 2|Linac 2]] at [[CERN]] (1976) </gallery>
==See also== {{div col}} * [[Command center]] * [[Active fire protection]] * [[Area of refuge]] * [[Circuit integrity]] * [[Fire protection]] * [[Fireproofing]] * [[Firestop]] * [[Combat information center]] * [[Passive fire protection]] * [[Uninterruptible power supply]] {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Control rooms}} * {{cite news |url= http://www.mro-network.com/airlines/managing-system-operations-jetblue |title= Managing System Operations At JetBlue |at= The airline tries to anticipate operational needs and stay ahead of potential disruptions as fleet expansion continues. |author= Lindsay Bjerregaard |date= Dec 6, 2017 |work= MRO network |publisher= Penton}} * [https://controlroomdesign.com/index.html Control Room Design] * [https://www.dbia.com/portfolio/stealth-design/us-army/# US Army INSCOM Information Dominance Center] * [https://motilde.com/en/iso-11064-optimising-ergonomics-of-control-rooms/ ISO 11064: Optimising the ergonomics of control rooms]. Motilde (May 2025).
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[[Category:Rooms]] [[Category:Command and control]] [[Category:Power station components]]