As part of their Leading for Safety guidelines, the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (UK MCA) presents key steps on how one might enhance their situational awareness.
According to UK MCA, 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.
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.
UK MCA highlights that the 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. There are 4 stages in the SLAM situation management technique which are presented as follows:
Stage 1: Stop and look at the task
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Has the task changed?
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Am I familiar with the task?
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Do I feel comfortable doing the task?
Stage 2: Look at the environment
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Inspect the potential hazards.
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Identify hazards and their associated risks for each stage of the process.
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Eliminate or mitigate the risks associated with each of the identified hazards
Stage 3: Assess the effects of hazards
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Are teammates competent?
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Are they familiar with the task?
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Do I need anything else to perform the task safely?
Stage 4: Manage the situation
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Did anything unexpected happen?
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How can I be more prepared in the future?
Generally, the continuous improvement of situational awareness aids in error identification and prevention, contributing to structured learning processes and organizational learning. Situational awareness is a critical concept in the maritime industry, emphasizing the importance of understanding the environment for enhanced safety, task execution, and overall performance.
