ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a growing realization of the importance of SA in assessing and predicting operator competence in complex environments, including not only aviation (both flying and air traffic control [ATC], e.g., Endsley, 1993; Durso, Hackworth, Truitt, Crutchfield, Nikolic and Manning, 1998), but also nuclear power plants, refineries and other complex operating systems (e.g., Hogg, Folleso, Strand-Volden and Torralba, 1995), tactical and strategic systems such as fire-fighting, military and police operations (e.g., Kaempf, Wolf and Miller, 1993), driving and operating heavy machinery (e.g., Gugerty, 1997), and medical decision making (e.g., Gaba, Howard and Small, 1995). Since its original conception, numerous definitions of the term 'Situation Awareness' have been proposed, the most widely cited being that by Endsley (1995a) who states that, 'Situation awareness is the perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future' (p. 36).
