The maritime industry is changing rapidly with constant introduction of new technology. Dynamic positioning, a computer-controlled system to maintain a vessel’s position and heading, is an example of this trend. This paper is a literature review to answer the research question: What are the characteristics of Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that can support sensemaking in critical situations? HMIs have a key role in supporting the operators in safetycritical situations, and the aim was to investigate this in order to lay the foundation for how to design HMIs in the future maritime context. Very few authors describe HMIs in the context of sensemaking. Based on Weick’s work on sensemaking, we grouped the literature identified according to his dimensions to establish the link to HMIs and operation of safety-critical situations in high-risk industries.

Keywords: Sensemaking, Human Machine Interfaces, Safety critical situations, Control centers, Decision making.