Situation awareness

Situation awareness or situational awareness, is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the environment considering time and space, the understanding of their meaning, and the prediction of their status in the near future. It is also defined as adaptive, externally-directed consciousness focused on acquiring knowledge about a dynamic task environment and directed action within that environment.

Situation awareness is recognized as a critical foundation for successful decision making in many situations, including the ones which involve the protection of human life and property, such as law enforcement, aviation, air traffic control, ship navigation, health care, emergency response, military command and control operations, transmission system operators, self defense, and offshore oil and nuclear power plant management.

Inadequate situation awareness has been identified as one of the primary causal factors in accidents attributed to human error. According to Endsley's situation awareness theory, when someone meets a dangerous situation, that person needs an appropriate and a precise decision-making process which includes pattern recognition and matching, formation of sophisticated frameworks and fundamental knowledge that aids correct decision making.

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