Foundations of SA for Industry

Most workers and supervisors know, intuitively, that strong situational awareness is an important aspect of worksite safety. However, many do not understand what situational awareness is, how it is developed and how quickly it can erode and lead to errors in decision making.

It’s no surprise that flawed situational awareness – and the barriers that flaw awareness – are consistently identified as contributing factors in near-miss and workplace casualty reports.

This program explains what situational awareness is and teaches workers a three-step process for developing and maintaining situational awareness. Workers will be introduced to the importance of developing and maintaining five awarenesses: Personal, team, resource, work area and shared.

Specific examples of barriers that can erode worker situational awareness are discussed, including: Sensory conflict, mind drift, automaticity, limitations in memory and recall, distractions, interruptions, task fixation, pride, urgency, pressure, stress, confabulation, auditory exclusion, miscommunications, routine/boredom and overconfidence.