Lecture 3 'Situation Awareness'

Question 1

What are the three components of situation awareness (that make up SA1, SA2 and SA3)?

Answer 1

What? = SA1 - perceiving critical factors in the enrivonment

So What? = SA2 - understanding what the factors mean when integrated with operator’s goals

What Now? = SA3 - understanding what will happen with the system in the near future

Question 2

Situation awareness is a ____________ that interacts with doman expertise and skill, or ___________

Answer 2

mental picture

mental model

Question 3

What does situation awareness lead to?

Answer 3

Problem solving and/or actions based on patterns of operator knowledge and expertise

Question 4

What are four measures of situation awareness?

Answer 4

1. Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART)
2. Situation Awareness Behavioural Rating Scale (SABARS)
3. Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT)
4. Situation Present Assessment Technique (SPAM)

Question 5

What are three dangers of situation awareness loss?

Answer 5

> loss of ‘mental picture’ (awareness of current status)
loss of ‘mental model’ (ability to make inferences about status significance / choose right action)
loss of control skills, understanding of lags/delays/gains and order of control

Question 6

What are two solutions to combat the dangers of situation awareness loss?

Answer 6

> design automation as an ‘associate’ not the master

> create information contents and displays that preserve SA1, SA2 and SA3 and that support safe control

Question 7

What are the seven fallacies of situation awareness? BONUS HARD QUESTION

Answer 7

1. SA1, SA2, SA3 are linear/sequential
2. Model is data-driven, human info processing model
3. Model of SA does not indluce situation assessment processes
4. Model of SA is not cyclical or dynamic
5. Model of SA fails to take meaning into account
6. SA is all contained within working memory
7. SA is just an ‘in the head’ model and does not account for wider sociotechnical system

Question 8

What were Hoffman’s three criticisms of the situation awareness model?

Answer 8

1 > not all arrows in the SA model mean the same thing

2 > model is general model of nearly all of cognition, branded by a single construct of attention

3 > no better than other models which aren’t general models of cognition

Question 9

What were Flach’s four criticisms of the situation awareness model?

Answer 9

1 > the model refers to “triadic” (3-way) concerns but is misleadingly labeled in “dyadic” (2-way) terms

2> Author fails to recognize or cite research into the “triadic” view

3 > People interpret SA model as a “dyadic” human info-processing model

4 > Highly cited because it’s so vague; researchers project own world view onto it

Question 10

What are Van Winsen and Dekker’s five criticisms of the situation awareness model?

Answer 10

1> supporting evidence not scientifically sound
2> author’s separation of mind and matter
3> dynamic feedback look is outdated
4> inadequate understanding of “situations”
5> raification (making it a thing) makes it prone to misuse (e.g. people in jail > blamed for losing SA)

Question 11

What seven factors contributed to the Three Mile Island accident?

Answer 11

1. Display design
2. System design for emergency
3. Operating procedures
4. Maintenance procedures and practices
5. Nuclear Regulatory Commission role
6. Utility management and operator training
7. Human information processing characteristics

Question 12

Explain what happened at Three Mile Island?

Answer 12

Primary + Secondary cooling loops keep the nuclear reactor from overheating.

Pressure relief valve (PORV) opens, but the light turns off indicating it has closed (it stays open) > operators work under the assumption that the pump is closed > partial nuclear meltdown + leaking radiation

Question 13

A situational awareness factor which contributed to the TMI accident was?

Answer 13

It took multiple steps to get knowledge of what was happening

Question 14

What types of displays could have helped situation awareness in the TMI accident?

Answer 14

Pressure – temperature graphs and Rankine cycle display showing phase changes of water (current operation + history)

Question 15

In a nuclear power plant (NPP) system, which display type was found to be more effective in detecting and diagnosing issues?

There was found to be a strong _____ effect.

Answer 15

Rankine cycle display (phase changes of water) however operators did not like it they preferred what was familiar to them

expertise effect (operators > graduates > novices)

Question 16

The HAMMLAB nuclear power plant display study compared traditional, advanced and ecologically displays to support situation awareness during unexpected events. Explain the results of SA1 and SA2/SA3

Answer 16

> SA1 = no significant difference

> SA2/SA3 = ECOLOGICAL display better at showing what was happening in strange/uncommon scenarios

Question 17

What does FLACH think of “situation awareness”

Answer 17

Another buzzword to cloak scientist’s ignorance

Question 18

(Q. 14) An air traffic controller sees on his air traffic display that new air traffic is arriving, and he predicts
that in 15 minutes he will be experiencing very high levels of mental workload. This is best
described as which kind of situation awareness?

Answer 18

SA1 (perceives critical factors in environment)
SA2 (understands what factors mean related to operator goals)
SA3 (understands what will happen in future)

Question 19

(Q. 15) In their study of different display concepts for nuclear power plants, performed at the HAMMLAB
simulator in Norway, what did Burns et al. (2008) discover during “beyond design basis”
(unprecedented) events?

Answer 19

> “Ecological” displays support better SA2 and SA3 during abnormality DETECTION than traditional or advance displays

Question 20

In the HAMMLAB nuclear simulator study, the ______ design resulted in better task (detection) performance

Answer 20

ecological

Question 21

Describe the Rankine display

Answer 21

A temperature-entropy diagram showing changes in water from liquid to steam and back to
liquid as it goes through heat exchanger, turbine, and condenser.

Question 22

What does the pressure-temperature graph show that could have helped situation awareness in the TMI accident?

Answer 22

A pressure-temperature diagram showing where water is in the liquid or steam state and
showing the status of water in the hot and cold legs of the plant

Question 23

(Q, 18) In the study testing the Rankine Cycle display, what did Vicente et al.’s (1995) Single-Sensor Single Indicator (or “Analog”) display show?

Answer 23

Rows of readout displays from individual instruments in the plant

Question 24

(Q. 5) A key factor in the accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in 1979 was the following:

a. Operators were unable to form the correct mental model of the plant’s situation.
b. The plant’s automated safety systems did not kick in as they were designed to do.
c. An uncontained explosion in the containment building meant many sensors broke.
d. Human error when applying plant emergency operating procedures.

Answer 24

A- operators were unable to for the correct mental model of the plant’s situation