Jan 2012 Safety Brief
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
PCR-WA-049
GAINING ATTENTION
You’ve seen the football play diagram on a chalkboard used by the offensive coach, right? There
are a series of X’s and O’s that represent the offensive and defensive players on the line up. The coach
draws out pathways with curving arrows that show where various players are going to go after the hike.
One of those players is the Quarterback, the QB. The QB has a unique responsibility on the field. During
the actual play, he has to see where his team and the other team players are moving, interpret action of the
offensive players coming through the line, make some decisions on what he needs to do to complete the
play, then act on the options that he has available to him at that moment. Since he has an expectation of
what the outcome of the play is supposed to look like, as it was planned on the chalkboard, he can
anticipate the completed play and move to make it happen. Football games are highly dynamic
interactions with lots of activity that need to be interpreted and appropriately responded to, at the right
time. The QB has to have a highly developed, and practiced, awareness of the situation surrounding him
in order to complete the play and eventually win the game.
Police officers, firefighters, machinery operators, aircraft pilots, air traffic controllers are also
people that operate in dynamic environments and have to have a keen awareness of the situation at any
given moment in order to do their jobs well and keep everyone safe.
In our everyday lives, we too encounter times when we are placed in dynamic, sometimes rapidly
changing, situations that require us to respond and react to the situation at hand quickly and smartly to
prevent injury or loss. How we prepare for those situations, interpret the information coming to us in the
moment and take appropriate action can have an effect on what ultimately happens. In the end, it is how
much awareness of the situation happening around us that can either help us or hurt us. This is called
Situational Awareness, or SA.
OBJECTIVES
Know the definition of Situational Awareness (SA)
Recognize that you engage in Situational Awareness all the time
Factors that reduce Situational Awareness
Combat loss of Situational Awareness
Safety and Situational Awareness
PRESENT INFORMATION
Lacking Situational Awareness or having inadequate SA has been identified as one of the primary
factors in accidents attributed to human error. Thus, SA is especially important in environments
where the information flow can be quite high and poor decisions or lack of proficiency may lead to
serious consequences.
DEFINITION
Situational Awareness is simply "knowing what is going on so you can figure out what to do." It has
three components:
1) the perception of what’s happening in complex, dynamic areas (such as aviation, AND
ordinary but nevertheless complex tasks such as driving an automobile or bicycle);
2) understand the meaning;
3) and creating a mental expectation of how it will affect the outcome. (This refers to the
degree of accuracy by which one's perception of his current environment mirrors reality.)
Jan 2012 Safety Brief
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
PCR-WA-049
Recognize you do it all the time
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Law Enforcement:
Officers must interpreted their subjects’ body language,
demeanor and attitude to predict how they would respond to demands and questions.
Fire Fighters: When a building is on fire, they’re making life saving decisions under
high pressure situations.
Pilots:
In turbulent weather, talking to ATC, looking out for other a/c and still
flying the airplane – awareness is divided in and out of the cockpit.
At home:
time of day, what doors are unlocked, whether you’re expecting
someone, where are your parents or children.
At a restaurant: after walking in you scan all emergency exits for quick egress in the
event of danger (like smoke, fire, assaults).
In your car:
You park in a well lite area after dark and have keys out ready to get in,
you drive at safe speeds for the traffic and road conditions, and use lights and signals to
change lanes and make turns.
In the kitchen: What is boiling on the stove, how much longer till the muffins are done,
what time is dinner being served, how is the cutting board set up, is the knife sharp and
where are my fingers
Factors that reduce SA
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STATIC vs. DYNAMIC environments – the more dynamic, the more dangerous and requires
higher levels of SA
INFORMATION OVERLOAD/UNDERLOAD – proficiency/preparation and false sense of
security
FATIGUE/STRESS – omission/elimination, tunnel vision, lack of concern, perception goes
down
INSUFFICIENT COMMUNICATIONS – with the team (ES ground team, Mission
Observer/Scanner, family
DIFFERING or CONFLICTING PRIORITIES - “Get there itis”, late or too much going on at
one time
Too much of any of these = reduced safety
Combat loss of SA
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TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE – repetition and proficiency – annual CAPF 5, lots of
practice like football players do, more education
AIDS AND AUTOMATION
– law enforcement: handcuffs
– a/c: checklists and autopilot
– home: lights, drapes, peep hole in door
– in car: park in lighted lot, keys out, Garmin, co-pilot
– at school, at school:
EXAMPLE – Snohomish County HS stabbings – discuss how the three football
players responded; know your way around, walk together, pay attention
to things that don’t seem normal
PRACTICE BEING VIGILANT – who knows where we can find this word? (CAP
motto)
Jan 2012 Safety Brief
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
PCR-WA-049
Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties – hazard ID & removal
Safety and SA
Practice SA
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Keep all your senses open to what’s happening around you
Understand what those signals mean
Create mental pictures of what could happen
Then, react and respond with appropriate action
PROVIDE LEARNING GUIDANCE
We must remain VIGILANT to our environment AND take action. Here’s a useful acronym: PADI
1)
2)
3)
4)
Perceive a potential hazard or threat
Analyze the situation
Decide on an appropriate action
Initiate the chosen action
A good way to practice enhancing our SA is using IF-THEN thinking. Say:
***
IF (this happens), THEN (this could result) ***
But, it ALWAYS requires an ACTION to remain safe
EXAMPLE: Dynamic situation while driving down the Interstate
P:
A:
D:
I:
IF that other car moves into my lane right now,
THEN I will have to brake hard or change lanes.
Create the mental picture of how you would respond: Are there any other cars in the lanes next
to mine – can I move over, if necessary? Who is behind me and how close are they – can I slam
on the brakes and not get rear-ended? Could I honk my horn to alert the other driver?
Take ACTION: So, let me slow down a little and stay out of the other driver’s blind spot so I can
respond.
PROVIDE PRACTICE
Break into 3 teams
Read Scenario instructions
5 minutes for teams to discuss
Each team share their findings and suggestions
PROVIDE FEEDBACK
Each team reads, provides feedback
Jan 2012 Safety Brief
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
PCR-WA-049
ENHANCED RETENTION
Do we live in a dynamic world?
And, do we live around people that are not exercising their SA?
Are there unstable or unpredictable people in the world?
Are they in the same places you are at any given time of the day?
Situational Awareness is not about being paranoid, it’s about being alert and ready and prepared to
respond in dynamic environments. Now that you know you know you’re ALREADY using your
Situational Awareness, do you think you may be more alert to what’s happening around by?
TEAM 1 Scenario:
CAP Lieutenant Colonel Armando returned home from work just after sunset. She knew her son and
husband were at soccer practice until later, and her daughter was staying the night at a friend’s house.
After walking around the house to close drapes and turn on some lights, she sat down at her kitchen table
to work on some long overdue emails to a few friends. Suddenly she heard a loud crashing sound in the
back yard. Knowing there had been some break-ins in the neighborhood recently, Lieutenant Colonel
Armando switched on the back yard exterior lights, and peaked out the blinds. Seeing some men in dark
clothing near the side door, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed the police.
Did the Colonel demonstrate good situational awareness after she came home?
What could she have done to improve her situational awareness?
Did her decisions lead to an appropriate action?
TEAM 2 Scenario:
At the end of the Air Show, the most senior CAP Cadet Sergeant was given the great responsibility of
marshalling all CAP aircraft out of the parking area. After the Cadet Sergeant gave the first and second
pilots the hand signal to start their aircraft engines, the Cadet Sergeant signaled for the first CAP airplane
to turn from the grass area leading onto the taxiway. The pilot of the third CAP airplane decided to go
ahead and start his engine in anticipation of his turn to exit the tie down area. As the Cadet Sergeant
turned to the third plane, he saw a tow bar connected to the nose gear of the airplane. Realizing the
potential danger of the engine running and taxiing with the tow bar still attached, the Cadet Sergeant
quickly gave the hand signal to have the pilot secure the engine and set the parking brake. When the
Jan 2012 Safety Brief
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
PCR-WA-049
engine stopped and the brake was set, the Cadet Sergeant approached the Cessna 182 from behind the
wing and told the pilot about the tow bar.
Did the Cadet Sergeant demonstrate good situational awareness in his duties as marshaller?
What could he have done to improve his situational awareness?
Did his decisions lead to an appropriate action?
TEAM 3 Scenario:
During the squadron’s monthly CPFT, the Cadet Lieutenant began the evening with a roll call of Cadet
members that would be going for the run down the street to the airport parking lot. In looking around at
his group of 15 cadets, the Cadet Lieutenant noticed a Cadet Airman that didn’t have a warm gym sweat
shirt. It was 42 degrees outside and breezy, but when asked, the Airman said he would be fine for the run.
After a short stretch and warm up in the squadron parking lot, the Cadet Lieutenant lead the group of
Cadets out the main gate and up the street toward the airport. Within 5 minutes, the Cadet Lieutenant
noticed the Airman lagging behind, stumbling and holding his arms against his sides. The Lieutenant
dropped back and asked the Airman if he was alright. The Airman stated he was fine, but the Lieutenant
could see the Airman starting to shiver. Immediately thinking about the conditions of hypothermia, the
Cadet Lieutenant called out to the group to stop, did an about-face, and then jogged them all back to the
squadron building.
Did the Cadet Lieutenant demonstrate good situational awareness with his team mates?
What could he have done to improve his situational awareness?
Did his decisions lead to an appropriate action?