Control room

A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. 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. Control rooms for vital facilities are typically tightly secured and inaccessible to the general public. Multiple electronic displays and control panels are usually present, and there may also be a large 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 oceanographic exploration mission), and closed or dismantled once the project is concluded. Control rooms are typically found in installations such as: Nuclear power plants and other power-generating stations Oil refineries and chemical plants 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 bridges, tunnels, canals 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 NORAD), also referred to as operations rooms NASA flight controllers work in several "flight control rooms" in mission control centers; affiliated facilities, such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have their own control rooms Computerized data centers, often serving remote users in multiple time zones Network operations centers Large institutions such as universities, hospitals, major research facilities (such as particle accelerator laboratories), high security prisons, and theme parks Emergency services including police, fire service and emergency medical service Call centers, 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.