Research on improving situation awareness of individals and the Singapore civil defence force personnel

• Main Author: Ho, Terence Chee Wah.
• Other Authors: Martin Erik Gustav Helander
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Industrial engineering::Human factors engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45976
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There have been numerous cases of fire break outs in Singapore. Many a times, one or two victims will perish during this disaster. In order to minimize such unfortunate cases, this research examines how situation awareness of individuals can be increased, be it civilians or the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF). Abstract The study was carried out finding out how people make an important decisions during a time-pressure situation and what are the factors that influence our course of actions. The research ranged from how people first sense things, how these images or auditory inputs are interpreted in our mind, how we images are stored in our long-term memory and finally the way we may retrieve the information from storage during a task through a method called mental simulations. These mental simulations first arise from the fire fighter’s situation awareness, analogues are then taken and placed together to form a suitable option for the task. The research also encompasses the correct evaluation strategy while in the process of formulating a suitable option for the task. Interviews were carried out with high ranking officers in the SCDF to identify features of their thinking process and to determine the factors that affect situation awareness. From the interviews, we can also find out how fire fighters predict scenarios, what they predict and when they predict. With this information, we then identify a set of guidelines to help the public to understand the importance of improving their situation awareness so that they can help themselves while waiting for help.