When paying attention isn’t enough…
Nobody wants to make a mess of their workday. And yet… sometimes things go terribly wrong! Even though the people involved paid close attention and – in their eyes – made conscious decisions. How can things still go so wrong?
There’s a good chance that situational awareness played a role…
Good situational awareness is essential for working safely
Without good situational awareness, perfectly good decisions can be made. Decisions whose outcome does not cause a mess. But are they good decisions? Or did it ‘go well’ instead of ‘well done’? And if it ‘went well’, aren’t we leaving too much to luck?
Good situational awareness makes you a lot less dependent on simple luck. But what exactly is situational awareness?
The ability to perceive and understand what is happening in your environment, in relation to how time passes. In order to then be able to predict future events in order to prevent a bad outcome.
The four core concepts – perception, understanding, time and prediction – seem obvious. Isn't that the same as just paying close attention?!? Nothing could be further from the truth. There are more than 120 barriers that can get in the way of good situational awareness. Some of these barriers are truly programmed into who we are as people, others arise from experiences, opinions and beliefs.
Regardless of your position in an organization, level of education or background; everyone is susceptible to these barriers. It is our mission to make everyone aware of their own limitations. Only then can you speak of good situational awareness
What we can do for your organization
Emergency services
Emergency services are expected to act immediately. In fact, by arriving on the scene with a blue light and siren, emergency workers create the impression that they are going to get to work right away.
But acting immediately, with a limited view of what is really going on, entails enormous risks. It is not for nothing that the fire department uses the principle 'Stop & think'.
We help your emergency workers understand what they need to think about.
Industry
Despite the industry’s high priority on safety, it is estimated that 80% of all accidents, near misses and production interruptions are the result of human error.
But did people really fail? Or is the process set up in such a way that people can hardly do anything but fail? Are employees – who work in a risky environment – aware of their limitations? Chances are they are not.
We are happy to help your employee teams better understand the obstacles, how they make their work more dangerous and what they can do to prevent this. Our mission is to significantly reduce that 80%
Business Continuity
When your company is on fire – literally or figuratively – it is important that the right decisions are made.
Following agreements and procedures seems obvious. But can employees do that at that moment, or do barriers in situational awareness arise?
We help your employees recognize these barriers so that they do not stumble over them – in the heat of the battle.
IT Operations & Development
Pushing a new feature, because that went well last time, or upgrading the infrastructure at 5 pm on Friday, because it never goes wrong.
Just a few excerpts from research reports of recent IT outages that sometimes had global consequences. It sounds careless, but it was done with the best intentions.
We help your team recognize the pitfalls.
Working in a different industry?
Even then, situational awareness can bring your organization a lot. We would be happy to look at the possibilities with you.