The appreciation that a person makes of the situation depends mainly on the following four (4) elements:
- the nature of the information available (e.g., If the warning light is not working, there is less chance that the operator will realize that the motor is overheating.)
- personal experience, which results in personalized mental models, and a library of configurations the brain recognizes.
- the purpose of his/her current work: if the operator is focused on resolving an incident, he/she will be acutely aware of all the information that he/she is expecting or looking for to manage this situation. It is possible, however, that they may miss information relating to the start of a second incident independent of the first.
- the interactions with the work group: in certain cases, interactions with other operators can make it possible to integrate information that had not been identified and thus modify the appreciation of the situation. They can also sometimes play a part in blocking the whole team in an inappropriate appreciation
Source: Daniellou, F., Simard, M. and Boissières, I. (2011). Human and organizational factors of safety: a state of the art. Number 2011-01 of the Cahiers de la Sécurité Industrielle, Foundation for an Industrial Safety Culture, Toulouse, France (ISSN 2100-3874). DOI: 10.57071/429dze.
