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Great expectations: a thematic analysis of situation awareness in fratricide

Great expectations: a thematic analysis of situation awareness in fratricide
Great expectations: a thematic analysis of situation awareness in fratricide
This paper explores the role of Situation Awareness (SA) in accidents within the military domain, specifically in Close Air Support (CAS) missions. Several major examples of military fratricide (friendly fire) have arisen in such scenarios, and from the experience gained so far it is clear that poor SA has played a critical role. The study reported in this paper took place in a networked training facility, and two teams of army and air force personnel performed simulated CAS missions. One team performed in an effective manner, while the other team committed an error. Communications data from these two teams was subject to an analysis that enabled information networks to be created, which in turn provided a novel representation of systemic SA. The results demonstrated that SA differed in several critical and specific ways between the more effective and less effective teams. Of particular interest is that ‘better’ SA was found to be not merely ‘more’ SA, but more SA of appropriate stimuli. Linked to this is the finding that more communications do not necessarily support improvements in SA. Indeed, in this case fewer communications events were implicated in better team performance and SA. The findings confirm the importance of SA to safety within the military domain, but with several important and sophisticated caveats. The paper also contributes recommendations for improving SA in these environments, and a novel method for its measurement in challenging military contexts.
accidents, expectancy, information networks, military, distributed Situation Awareness
0925-7535
63-71
Rafferty, Laura A.
4b985278-d77a-4f99-a5db-d05f155683eb
Stanton, Neville A.
351a44ab-09a0-422a-a738-01df1fe0fadd
Walker, Guy H.
6439272c-58bb-4463-84d3-61357d91b2b6
Rafferty, Laura A.
4b985278-d77a-4f99-a5db-d05f155683eb
Stanton, Neville A.
351a44ab-09a0-422a-a738-01df1fe0fadd
Walker, Guy H.
6439272c-58bb-4463-84d3-61357d91b2b6

Rafferty, Laura A., Stanton, Neville A. and Walker, Guy H. (2013) Great expectations: a thematic analysis of situation awareness in fratricide. Safety Science, 56, 63-71. (doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2012.03.020).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper explores the role of Situation Awareness (SA) in accidents within the military domain, specifically in Close Air Support (CAS) missions. Several major examples of military fratricide (friendly fire) have arisen in such scenarios, and from the experience gained so far it is clear that poor SA has played a critical role. The study reported in this paper took place in a networked training facility, and two teams of army and air force personnel performed simulated CAS missions. One team performed in an effective manner, while the other team committed an error. Communications data from these two teams was subject to an analysis that enabled information networks to be created, which in turn provided a novel representation of systemic SA. The results demonstrated that SA differed in several critical and specific ways between the more effective and less effective teams. Of particular interest is that ‘better’ SA was found to be not merely ‘more’ SA, but more SA of appropriate stimuli. Linked to this is the finding that more communications do not necessarily support improvements in SA. Indeed, in this case fewer communications events were implicated in better team performance and SA. The findings confirm the importance of SA to safety within the military domain, but with several important and sophisticated caveats. The paper also contributes recommendations for improving SA in these environments, and a novel method for its measurement in challenging military contexts.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 27 April 2012
Published date: July 2013
Keywords: accidents, expectancy, information networks, military, distributed Situation Awareness
Organisations: Civil Maritime & Env. Eng & Sci Unit

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 364621
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/364621
ISSN: 0925-7535
PURE UUID: f4864e7b-0af5-4a4a-8335-1b181add2376
ORCID for Neville A. Stanton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8562-3279

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 06 May 2014 11:38
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:33

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Contributors

Author: Laura A. Rafferty
Author: Guy H. Walker

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