4. Situational awareness

How to be aware of what is going on around you, now and in the near future.

4.1 Three main situational awareness factors

Situational awareness is knowing what is going on around you in the present, as well as the potential influence of different factors in the near future.

There are 3 main factors that affect your situational awareness. These are:

  • Perception: do you recognise what is happening?
  • Understanding: do you understand the potential impact of what is happening?
  • Projection: can you figure out a solution and what might happen next?

Hazards may appear at any moment, and situational awareness allows us to identify these, and to judge the level of risk involved.

Remember

Risk = probability of impact x severity of impact

Situational awareness can vary from person to person, and of course, situation to situation. Our knowledge, experience and competence help us to understand what is happening around us, weigh up and then mitigate risks. Situational awareness will only be as accurate as our perception. So, it’s important to consider the factors you learnt about in section 2. A range of factors, in particular high-pressure or stressful situations, can cause a loss of situational awareness, which, in turn, can lead to incidents.

Stop, look, assess, manage (SLAM) is a quick technique you can use when you’re in a situation that requires urgent action to make sure that you maintain situational awareness.

The 4 stages in the SLAM situation management technique

Stage 1: stop and look at the task

  • Has the task changed?
  • Am I familiar with the task?
  • Do I feel comfortable doing the task?

Stage 2: look at the environment

  • Inspect the potential hazards.
  • Identify hazards and their associated risks for each stage of the process.
  • Eliminate or mitigate the risks associated with each of the identified hazards

Stage 3: assess the effects of hazards

  • Are teammates competent?
  • Are they familiar with the task?
  • Do I need anything else to perform the task safely?

Stage 4: manage the situation

  • Did anything unexpected happen?
  • How can I be more prepared in the future?