Abstract

Situated Awareness (SA) is said to have been identified during World War I by Oswald Boelke to help predict the strategy and position of the enemy. The field of aviation fervently took it up first during the 1980s, resulting in a flurry of research and scholarship that laid much of the groundwork still in operation. Among those who currently use it are nuclear power plant operators, fire fighters, certain police units, nurses, medical emergency responders and military command personnel. It is employed by those who ‘must ascertain the critical features in widely varying situations to determine the best course of action’ since ‘Inaccurate or incomplete SA in these environments can lead to devastating loss of life’ (Endsley 1995, 32–33).