EVENT: Psychology Colloquium: Paul Salmon: Why it is systems, not people, that lose situation awareness: A systems approach to situation awareness in sociotechnical systems

Presenter: Prof. Paul Salmon

Professor Paul Salmon holds a chair in Human Factors and is creator and director of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He currently holds a prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and has almost 15 years' experience in applied Human Factors research in a number of areas, including defence, transportation safety, sports and outdoor recreation, and disaster management. Paul has co-authored 11 books, almost 120 peer reviewed journal articles, and numerous conference articles and book chapters. His current research interests are accident prediction and analysis, applying systems thinking approaches in transportation systems, human factors in sport, and the design and analysis of sociotechnical systems.

Title: Why it is systems, not people, that lose situation awareness: a systems approach to situation awareness in sociotechnical systems

Abstract:

There remains a strong tendency for accident investigations to cite a 'loss of situation awareness' by human operators as a key causal factor in adverse events. This presentation argues that this is inappropriate, instead offering a systems level view that can be used to demonstrate how overall systems, not individuals, lose situation awareness. This is demonstrated by outlining a distributed situation awareness model which argues that situation awareness is an emergent property that is held by overall systems and is built through interactions between 'agents', both human (e.g. human operators) and non- human (e.g. tools, documents, displays). The arguments around accident causation are then demonstrated via case study analyses of the Air France 447 and Kerang rail level crossing crashes. Finally, an overview of a road safety research program is given to articulate how distributed situation awareness can be considered in sociotechnical system analysis and design. The implications for accident investigation and systems design are then discussed.