TEAM SITUATION AWARENESS FOR PROCESS-CONTROL SAFETY AND PERFORMANCE

This paper defines situation awareness (SA) and discusses its importan ce to operator-machine system safety and functioning in the context of process control activities. specifically, identified are relationship s of human detection of critical process cues conveying the status of automated control systems and operator interpretation of the meaning a nd relevance of such information to the potential for negative inciden ts in chemical processing. Beyond individual operator SA in interactin g with control systems, intra- and inter- work team SA are discussed f or supporting individual attainment of process control responsibilitie s. Factors critical to team SA are discussed. ''Road blocks'' to team SA are also analytically examined. Lastly, methods for assessing indiv idual and team SA are reviewed and vehicles for relating outcomes of t hese methods to changes in process control ope-rater and team behavior to improve human-machine system safety and performance are relayed.