The danger of losing situation awareness

Saying that our constructs are more operational than representational is an ethical cop-out. Researchers and lay people alike use constructs such as complacency and situation awareness as reflective of an empirical reality. Instances of loss of situation awareness are counted by researchers and given causal status. Practitioners now get accused of losing situation awareness in investigations, court cases and inquests. As a human factors community, we cannot walk away from our responsibility for helping create that possibility.