Broken components versus broken systems: why it is systems not people that lose situation awareness

Paul M Salmon; Guy H Walker; Neville A Stanton

doi:10.1007/s10111-015-0324-4

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Broken components versus broken systems: why it is systems not people that lose situation awareness

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Broken components versus broken systems: why it is systems not people that lose situation awareness

Paul M Salmon, Guy H Walker and Neville A Stanton

Cognition, Technology & Work, Vol.17(2), pp.179-183

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-015-0324-4

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Abstract

situation awareness

safety

accident analysis

This commentary is a response to Dekker's insightful article in this issue on situation awareness (SA). This is a concept that continues to excite strong debate but only because of the profound implications for the theoretical foundations and the effects that different approaches have for the work of human factors practitioners. We argue that Dekker's paper tacitly adopts one approach to SA, and in doing so will inevitably arrive at the point of questioning the concept in its entirety. If SA really is as deterministic and 'broken component' orientated as Dekker describes, then we would be in complete agreement, but instead we offer a counterpoint. We apply our distributed situation awareness approach to the key issues raised, answer all of Dekker's concerns, and offer a useful way forward.

Details

Title: Broken components versus broken systems: why it is systems not people that lose situation awareness
Authors: Paul M Salmon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
Guy H Walker (Author) - Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
Neville A Stanton (Author) - University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Publication details: Cognition, Technology & Work, Vol.17(2), pp.179-183
Publisher: Springer London, Ltd.
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.1007/s10111-015-0324-4
ISSN: 1435-5558
Organisation Unit: Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449257402621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Engineering, Industrial; Ergonomics