Perceiving and understanding an environment might sound like simple intuition, but this workplace safety habit is a critical skill. This perception is formally called “situational awareness,” which is the ability to know what’s going on, what could happen, and how to stay safe.
The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that roughly 1 in 10 patients are harmed during healthcare, and 50% of those instances are classified as completely preventable. Situational awareness is a key component of that prevention.
This crucial skill helps workers make informed decisions that improve not only their own safety but also the safety of everyone around them. Professional and personal settings require the ability to recognize existing hazards and anticipate potential risks before they lead to incidents.
This safety awareness can increase safety, help prevent workplace accidents, and enable quick, intentional responses to potential workplace hazards.
What Are the Benefits of Situational Awareness?
Situational awareness is the critical skill of detecting hazards or predicting those that have yet to occur based on the surrounding environment. Here are some key benefits of staying aware of surroundings and potential safety risks.
Prevent Injuries
Recognizing a hazard before it becomes an injury is effective situational awareness. When workplace injuries happen, a key part of workplace compensation investigations is determining whether the hazardous event was misunderstood, incorrectly anticipated, or never perceived at all. Injury prevention requires intentional situational awareness and an understanding of essential strategies that promote patient safety.
Protect Equipment
Patient and provider safety are always top priorities, but safe use of medical equipment is also an important part of healthcare roles. Studies show that 70% of device-related accidents are caused by user error, not mechanical error. This is hazardous for both patients and equipment, and can be prevented with heightened situational awareness.
Avoid Unsafe Situations
Staying aware of situations involves heightened perception, comprehension, and projection. This means perceiving factors and details in a situation that affect safety, understanding how those details could diminish safety or increase risk, and predicting how situations might unfold in ways that could cause harm. Situational awareness helps avoid unsafe situations by using these three steps to prevent unsafe scenarios.
Making a Habit of Situational Awareness
Staying aware of situations is not a simple checklist item, but an intentional habit that consistently supports and maintains safety.
Use the Four-Step SLAM Method
The SLAM method is a four-step process that helps professionals pause before acting. Each step helps professionals observe, interpret, and anticipate environmental factors that contribute to overall safety.
Here are the four steps of the SLAM method:
- Stop. This pause before starting work is an important step. Take a moment to ask yourself a few key questions. Is this a new task? Has something changed about this task since the last time you worked on it? How recent is your experience with this task? Do you feel confident and comfortable doing what needs to be done? Do you need more training or information before starting?
- Look. The next step of intentionally looking should happen before, during, and after your work tasks. Ask yourself these check-in questions to make sure you’re taking in all the details needed to complete work safely. Are there any potential hazards in the area? What are the potential hazards of each step of the task? Are there any variables that could change mid-task or pose new risks? How will you control, remove, or anticipate any of those hazards? This evaluation is a proactive approach to spotting risks, rather than reacting to something that could have been avoided.
- Assess. No position is exempt from actively assessing a situation. Sometimes repeating a task is even more reason to assess intentionally, because repetition can lead to assumptions or missed new information. Take steps to actively assess the factors that contribute to situational safety (think training, tools, and personal protective equipment). If you notice anything potentially hazardous, take time to discuss those concerns with coworkers or supervisors.
- Manage. Minimizing or eliminating hazards requires responsible management and proactive safety measures. This includes ensuring proper equipment is available and tools are well maintained. Evaluating what went well or could have gone better will help with future safety management. Being fully prepared for future tasks is an important part of maintaining safety and improving best practices.
These four steps of the SLAM method encourage workers to take safety seriously, promote a strong safety culture, and stay in control of key safety measures. Following a clear process can help avoid unnecessary accidents, and workers and managers can feel better equipped to stay safe in the workplace.
Beyond the SLAM method, other situational awareness safety measures include:
Reduce Distractions and Stay Focused
If distractions are preventing safe working conditions, take a break to refocus. Working through distractions can lead to equipment damage, incorrect task completion, or even injury.
Know Emergency Procedures
A key part of situational awareness is knowing emergency protocols. Where are the emergency exits? How do you access the nearest fire extinguisher? How close is the nearest eyewash station? Where is the closest first aid kit? Knowing these safety plans is essential for preventing workplace incidents.
Pay Attention to Changing Conditions
Recognizing that conditions will not always be consistent is an important part of situational awareness. Sometimes equipment is well maintained, but other times those same tools may be left in disrepair or with changed settings. Sometimes environments are safely prepped or properly cleaned, while other times hazardous spills or potential dangers might be present. Paying attention to actual conditions instead of making assumptions helps maintain safety as conditions change.
Be Mindful of All Senses
Changes in environments may show up through one or more senses. Instead of ignoring that sensation, pay attention to changes or anything that seems abnormal. These changes might include unusual smells, sights, vibrations, temperature changes, or eye-catching hazards. This alert mindset helps identify potential hazards before workplace accidents happen.
Communicate, Verify, and Report Near Misses
A near-miss situation is still an incident. Reporting near-misses helps establish better practices for future safety protocols. Even when no injuries occur, reporting near-miss situations can make the difference in preventing future injuries.
Stay Safe, Aware, and Informed With SHC
Building awareness into every shift is an important safety measure for preventing workplace incidents. SHC is committed to promoting situational awareness to help providers identify hazards before they become incidents.
SHC supports conditions that help all providers to come to work alert, assess surroundings often, and speak up anytime something seems unsafe. We also encourage providers to regularly review workplace safety procedures and participate in routine safety training. Our goal is to support providers, encourage improved safety practices, and provide guidance that gives both patients and providers the safe environments they deserve.
To learn more about SHC or search for a new role through our network, browse open positions here.
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