SITUATIONAL AWARENESS 5-1

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

OBJECTIVES To successfully complete this assignment, you must study

the text and master the following objectives:
• State the actions required to maintain situational
awareness.
• State the clues to loss of situational awareness.
• Define the five barriers to situational awareness.
• Describe the three levels of human error.

DEFINITION Situational Awareness is the ability to identify, process,

and comprehend the critical elements of information about
what is happening to the team with regards to the mission.
More simply, it’s knowing what is going on around you.

When we lose the bubble (i.e., Situational Awareness) we

CONSEQUENCES
increase the potential for human error mishaps. Coast
OF LOSS
Guard analysis of navigational mishaps for cutters and
boats revealed that 40% were due to a loss of situational
awareness.

SITUATIONAL Effective team situational awareness depends on team

AWARENESS members developing accurate expectations for team
AND TEAM performance by drawing on a common knowledge base.
PERFORMANCE This concept, known as maintaining a “Shared Mental
Model” allows team members to effectively:

• Anticipate the needs of other team members.

• Predict the needs of other team members.
• Adapt to task demands efficiently.

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WHAT To ensure a Shared Mental Model of the situation, team

KNOWLEDGE members must share their knowledge relative to:
NEEDS TO BE
• The task and team goals.
SHARED?
• Their individual tasks.
• Team member roles and responsibilities.
To provide a solid base for building team situational
awareness, team members need to have information that
will help them develop relevant expectations about the
entire team task.

CLUES TO LOSS The loss of Situational Awareness usually occurs over a

period of time and will leave a trail of clues. Be alert for
the following clues that will warn of lost or diminished
Situational Awareness:
• Confusion or gut feeling.
• No one watching or looking for hazards.
• Use of improper procedures.
• Departure from regulations.
• Failure to meet planned targets.
• Unresolved discrepancies.
• Ambiguity.
• Fixation or preoccupation.

Confusion Disorder within the team or a gut feeling that things are
not right. This clue is one of the most reliable because the
body is able to detect stimulus long before we have
consciously put it all together. Trust your feelings!

No one Vessel operations require more than just driving the bow of
Watching or the cutter or boat. The proper assignment and performance
Looking for of tasks, particularly supervisory and lookout ones, is
Hazards essential to safe vessel operations.

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Use of Improper This puts the individual or team in a gray area where no
Procedures one may be able to predict outcomes with any certainty.

Departure from In addition to violating procedures, we are operating in an

Regulations unknown area where the consequences of our actions
cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty.

Failure to Meet During each evolution, we set certain goals or targets to

Planned Targets meet, such as speed of advance, waypoints, and soundings.
When they are not met, we must question why and
systematically begin to evaluate our situation.

Unresolved When two or more pieces of information do not agree, we

Discrepancies must continue to search for information until the
discrepancy is resolved.

Ambiguity When information we need is confusing or unclear, we must

clarify or to fill in the missing pieces before proceeding.

Fixation or When someone fixates on one task or becomes preoccupied

Preoccupation with work or personal matters, they lose the ability to
detect other important information. Early detection of both
fixation and preoccupation is essential to safe vessel
operations. The best way to identify these clues is by
knowing the behavior of your team members and being alert
to change. Preoccupation with personal matters can often
lead to subtle changes in performance.

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MAINTAINING Maintenance of situational awareness occurs through

AWARENESS effective communications and a combination of the following
actions.
• Recognize and make others aware when the team
deviates from standard procedures.
• Monitor the performance of other team members.
• Provide information in advance.
• Identify potential or existing problems
(i.e. equipment-related or operational).
• Demonstrate awareness of task performance.
• Communicate a course of action to follow as needed.
• Demonstrate ongoing awareness of mission status.
• Continually assess and reassess the situation in relation
to the mission goal(s).
• Clarifying expectations of all team members eliminates
doubt.

Comment on When deviations are noted, effective team members

Deviations comment in specific, assertive terms.

Monitor Be alert for changes in the performance of other team

Performance of members caused by work overload, stress, errors, etc.
Others When changes are noted, take action by speaking up.

Provide Don’t wait to be asked. When you have information critical

Information to team performance, speak up!

Identify Problems All team members are tasked to identify problems before
they affect mission accomplishment.

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Demonstrate your Know how your job and those of other teams members
awareness of task contribute to overall mission accomplishment.
performance
EXAMPLE: It may not be necessary to know the technical
aspects of other team member’s jobs, but you must be aware
of what actions, information, etc. they need from you to do
their jobs effectively.

Communicate a Effective communications may be the most important factor

Course of Action in achieving and maintaining situational awareness. To
ensure a Shared Mental Model, speak up and verbalize any
intended action. Understand that the level of situational
awareness achieved is related to the level and quality of
communication observed in team members.

Demonstrate Ensure that your performance reflects an understanding

Awareness of and awareness of the mission or task being performed.
Mission/Task
EXAMPLE: Effective team leaders plan ahead and
communicate the plan to team members. This ensures that
everyone is aware of the plan and builds a Shared Mental
Model of the situation.

Continually In the dynamic world of Coast Guard operations plan on

Assess the change and continually assess and reassess the situation to
Situation determine if the team is on track to safely and effectively
accomplish the mission goal.

Clarify Understand that clear expectations lead to a Shared Mental

Expectations Model of the situation and ensures high levels of situational
awareness by all team members.

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TWO The Two-Challenge Rule has been used effectively in

CHALLENGE aviation to detect fixation in a team member. If a team
RULE member fails to adequately respond to two or more
challenges regarding omissions or questionable actions, the
individual is assumed to have lost situational awareness and
some action is required. Apply this rule in daily operations.

BARRIERS TO The following barriers reduce our ability to understand the

SITUATIONAL situation. Recognizing these barriers and taking corrective
AWARENESS action is the responsibility of all team members.
• Perception based on faulty information processing.
• Excessive motivation.
• Complacency.
• Overload.
• Fatigue.
• Poor communications.

Perception Perception is our mental picture of reality. The amount and

quality of information available limit all pictures of our
current operational state. Insufficient information makes it
difficult to ensure that our mental picture is always aligned
with reality. Our mental picture is affected by:
• Past Experiences: We act on information based on our
knowledge. When something looks similar to what we
are familiar with, we may react as if it were the same.
• Expectations: We interpret information in such a way
that it affirms the planned action. We may rationalize
that the ship is being set by a current that was
incorrectly computed, when in reality no one has
compensated for bearing errors in the instruments.
• Filters: We are provided with information, but we don’t
use it. We don’t pay attention to information that
doesn’t match our mental picture.

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Excessive This behavior imposes expectations and filters that affect

Motivation our ability to fully assess the situation and any safety
risks. It includes, but is not limited to, “GET HOME-itis”
and an overriding sense of mission importance (e.g. “you
have to go out. . .”). Performing the 7-step Risk
Management Process, using an effective decision-making
strategy (Chapter 6) and seeking feedback on judgments
can reduce the potential for unsafe acts.

Complacency Assuming everything is under control affects vigilance.

When things are slow, tasks are routine, and/or when the
vessel’s employment objectives have been achieved,
complacency can occur. Challenging yourself and/or the
team to be prepared for contingencies (e.g. planning or
training) can deter complacency.

Overload Overload causes distraction; fixation; increased errors, and

high stress. Prioritizing and delegating tasks and
minimizing job distractions can improve safety in
conditions of overload.

Fatigue Fatigue affects vigilance. Adjusting work routine and

imposing sleep discipline to prevent wake cycles longer
than 18 hours and permit at least 5 and preferably 8
hours/day of sound sleep can minimize sleep deprivation.
This includes enforcing lights out, permitting late sleepers,
and as needed having stand-downs.

Poor The level of situational awareness achieved is related to

Communications the level and quality of communications observed in the
team.

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HUMAN The large amount of information processed by teams and the

ERROR many necessary interactions within and between teams
provides the opportunity for human error. Chains of human
error are normal and should be expected. There are three
levels of human error.

• Slips.

• Mistakes.

• Errors.

Slips Slips are the incorrect sending of information or mis-

communication. Often well-formed habits take over and we
make a slip. Slips often occur in giving rudder or engine
commands, or in responding on the radio. These slips may be
humorous or seem insignificant, but they are a visual or
auditory form of human error. They may indicate that the
individual making the slip is under added stress.
Unfortunately, the individual may not recognize the slip.

Example: An example is a verbal rudder order for left rudder

when the direction of the hand was toward the right. The
wrong call sign that is used to respond to another vessel is
another example of a slip.

Corrective Action: Inform the individual of the slip,

regardless of differences in rank.

Mistakes Mistakes are failures in planning. Mistakes almost always

have to do with the selection of objectives and the time required
to achieve them.

Example: This may be a wrong trackline chosen because of

improper reading of the compass rose. In the engine room it
may be the timing for engine maintenance that conflicts with a
planned, though poorly promulgated, restricted maneuvering
event.

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Corrective Action: Questioning the plan during the brief and

performing thorough double checks, can reduce the probability
of these mistakes.

Errors Errors are flawed execution; incorrect actions based on either

correct or incorrect information. Errors, because they are
defined as actions, are the most serious form of human error.

Example: The helmsman applying rudder in accordance with

the conning officer’s slip is an error; likewise, the helmsman
applying the opposite rudder to that which was correctly
ordered creates a similar error.

Corrective Action: Effective teams are alert to errors and use

assertive communications to alert others to the problem.

ERROR Trapping slips, mistakes, and errors, (or breaking an error

TRAPPING; chain), is a key mechanism to avoiding mishaps. Human error
When To Do It can occur at anytime. The earlier human error enters the
And process and/or the longer it goes undetected, the less effective
Who Should the team will be and the greater the potential for mishaps.
Do It Regulations are implemented to control some of the known
errors, but regulations and standard operating procedures are
not fail-safe mechanisms.

Team members must be able to identify all levels of

human error and be empowered to take corrective
action!

DEFINING Judgment is a process that produces a thoughtful, considered

JUDGMENT decision. In other words, it is the ability to perceive a situation
AND and make a decision. Good decisions equal good judgment; poor
JUDGMENT decisions equal poor judgment. Judgment determines team
CHAINS actions in a given situation and depends on information that
team members have about themselves, their unit, and the
environment. In performing the mission, many judgments are
made. This series of judgments is called a judgment chain.

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How Poor Poor judgments may be the outcome of applying erroneous

Judgments information or using an ineffective decision-strategy (discussed
Are Formed in Chapter 6). If an ‘up stream’ judgment is flawed, it can affect
the other ones ‘down stream’. “Garbage In = Garbage Out.”

Recognizing When individuals exercise poor judgment and are not aware of
Poor it:
Judgment
Chains • Reality Is Distorted. They are lulled into a
misperception of reality. They rationalize why things are
happening using this reality as fact.

• False Information is Perpetuated. They often create

false information that they use to make future judgments.
The probability is high that these judgments will be
flawed.

• Fewer Alternatives Seem Acceptable. As more poor

judgments or false information is added to the chain, the
seemingly available alternatives for solving problems
narrow.

Example: If a cutter decides to transit unfamiliar waters

without proper charts, the lack of knowledge limits its ability to
deal with navigational hazards.

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BREAKING A structured approach to decision-making is important to

POOR prevent a poor judgment chain from either forming or
JUDGMENT growing. (See the DECIDE Model outlined in Chapter 6).
CHAINS This approach includes a step to evaluate judgments. To be
effective this step has three parts.

1. Seek feedback and point out errors.

2. Assess stress level within team.
3. Manage resulting risk.
For any poor judgment chain to be broken, team leaders
and members must recognize that they are human. Be open
to the possibility that you can make poor judgments. Be
willing to admit and correct errors.

Seek Feedback To recognize a poor judgment get feedback. Feedback can

& Point Out come from two sources: your senses (e.g. clues to loss of
Errors situational awareness) or from an observer. Generally, the
best feedback comes from others. Although senior team
members are expected to use their knowledge and
experience to critique their judgments, don’t hesitate to get
a double-check/a second opinion.

Assess Stress Too much or too little stress can reduce our ability to
Level Within exercise good judgment. Assess the stress and attempt to
Team obtain an optimal level before continuing.

Manage Apply the 7 steps of Risk Management to correct any

Resulting Risk hazardous situations resulting from poor judgment.

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SUMMARY Situational awareness is dynamic, hard to maintain, and

easy to lose. Knowing what is going on all the time is very
difficult for any one person, especially during complex high
stress operations. Therefore it is important that we know
what behavior is effective in keeping us situationally
aware. The following actions can help a team retain or
regain situational awareness.
• Be alert for deviations from standard procedures.
• Watch for changes in the performance of other team
members.
• Be proactive, provide information in advance.
• Identify problems in a timely manner.
• Show you are aware of what’s going on around you.
• Communicate effectively.
• Keep abreast of the mission status.
• Continually assess and reassess the situation.
• Ensure that all expectations are shared for complete
awareness by the whole team.

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SELF QUIZ #4
1. What actions are observed in teams which are situationally aware?
a. ____________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________
d. ____________________________________________________
e. ____________________________________________________
f. ____________________________________________________
g. ____________________________________________________

2. What are the clues to loss of situational awareness?

a. ____________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________
d. ____________________________________________________
e. ____________________________________________________
f. ____________________________________________________
g. ____________________________________________________
h. ____________________________________________________

3. What is the Two-Challenge Rule?

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

4. What are the six barriers to situational awareness?

a. ____________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________
d. ____________________________________________________
e. ____________________________________________________
f. ____________________________________________________

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SELF-QUIZ #4 (continued)
5. List the three levels of human error
a. ____________________________
b. ____________________________
c. ____________________________

6. Define Error Trapping.

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

7. What are the steps used to prevent Poor Judgment Chains from growing?
a. _____________________________
b. _____________________________
c. _____________________________

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ANSWERS TO SELF-QUIZ #4

Question Answer Reference

1. a. Anticipate the needs of other team members. 5-1

b. Predict the needs of other team members.
c. Adapt to task demands efficiently.

2. a. Confusion. 5-2
b. No one watching or looking for hazards.
c. Use of improper procedures.
d. Departure from regulations.
e. Failure to meet planned targets.
f. Unresolved discrepancies.
g. Ambiguity.
h. Fixation or Preoccupation.

3. If a team member fails to adequately respond to 5-6

two or more challenges regarding omissions or
questionable actions. The individual is assumed
to have lost situational awareness.

4. a. Perception. 5-6
b. Excessive Motivation.
c. Complacency.
d. Overload.
e. Fatigue.
f. Poor Communications.

5. a. Slips. 5-8
b. Mistakes.
c. Errors.

6. Trapping slips, mistakes, and errors (or breaking 5-9

an error chain).

7. a. Seek feedback and point out errors. 5-11

b. Assess stress level within the team.
c. Manage resulting risk.

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Student Notes

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Student Notes

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Student Notes

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