Who We Are
The Center for Operator Performance is a diverse group of industry, vendor, and academia representatives addressing human capabilities and limitations with research, collaboration, and human factors engineering.
Our mission to raise the performance level of our operators and improve Health, Safety, and Environmental effectiveness is accomplished through:
- Openly sharing knowledge and ideas
- Including vendors in research decisions
- Teaming with leading human factors researchers and universities
- Collaborating with a focus on HS&E
We understand the operational realities that operating safely requires redundancy of many components and operating competitively requires lack of redundancy of the human component. These complexities keep plant operators at the center of improving operational performance and at the center of our efforts bringing research insights into process plants.
Already a Member?
Our current members are:
- BASF
- Beville
- BP
- Chevron
- CITGO
- Emerson
- Koch Industries
- Marathon
- Yokogawa
All current employees of our member companies and their subsidiaries are invited to sign-up and explore the website to learn more about the organization, how to participate, and the tools available for you to use.
Unsure if your company is a member? Contact Lisa.Via@OperatorPerformance.com for confirmation.
Not A Member Yet?
Our membership is made up of oil refiners, chemical plants, pipelines, power plants, paper mills and those who support the industry. We are operating company driven, with research chosen for and by the operating companies.
We invite you to join us and become a participating member.
Explore
Since 2007, the Center for Operator Performance has been investigating how to improve operator performance in process control industries through manipulation of operator-system variables: Alarms, Graphics, Automation, Procedures, Workstation, Skills/Knowledge, Training, Workload, Job Design, and Organization. Download one of our ready-to-use Tools, or, if you want more background, visit Projects to review our comprehensive research library.
Get Involved
The more involved our members are, the more we all benefit. Join us at our next event to learn, promote a project, and network.
News
SAVE THE DATE! The COP Spring meeting will be held the week of April 27, 2026. Mark your calendars and keep an eye on your email for more details.
Be sure to join the December conference call for a special discussion on Procedure Adherence - Successes & Opportunities by FHR.
Follow us on LinkedIn and help share news about COP events and research
Missed the November 2025 call? Access the November 2025 Call page to see what you missed, including a special presentation by Mike Moody of BASF on the Kubler-Ross Change Curve and an overview of the COP TAME project.
It's a wrap! Visit the 2025 October Meeting Page to access all meeting files and recordings. Thanks to all of our champions, researchers, and members for a fantastic meeting!