Toward a descriptive measure of situation awareness in petrochemical refining

Abstract

The petrochemical field is seeking to increase efficiency, improve safety, and lessen environmental impacts. One way to improve the performance of operators is to investigate their situation awareness (SA). Research has shown that SA is a predictor of performance. However, there is little consensus on how to measure SA. This study investigated two prominent techniques for measuring SA: the Situation Present Assessment Method (SPAM) and the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). These techniques were examined for their psychometric properties in assessing SA among operators. Results of this investigation showed both SAGAT and SPAM could predict certain performance variables exclusively of each other. It was also found that SPAM and SAGAT were not sensitive to changes in SA resulting from differences in task workload. However, neither measure was significantly intrusive on primary task performance, suggesting that these metrics can be used in future experiments in petrochemical refining with further refinement.