CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (continued)

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS


We need Situational Awareness in order to improve the Crew Resource Management techniques of the air-crews.

We know that human error is the leading cause of mishaps, so how do well intentioned crews allow human errors to be such a frequent cause factor?
Most often the explanation lies in the loss of situational awareness.
When a crewmember loses situational awareness, it is usually because he has become task saturated and cannot properly divide his attention to all necessary tasks. After an accident has occurred it is important to determine if situational awareness was lost, and why. The purpose of this section of my blog is to enable each individual to evaluate their own level of awareness, to take control of their own performance, and to reduce the likelihood of a human error accident.

Situational awareness is the accurate perception of the critical factors and conditions affecting the immediate environment at a specific time. This includes what has happened in the past and how it affects what is happening in the present; and how it may affect what will happen in the future.

a. The levels of situational awareness is necessarily different depending on whether it pertains to a crew as a whole or to an individual.

b. The following factors hold true:

Every individual has a different level of SA depending upon his/her own perception of reality.

The situational awareness level of the crew is determined by the level of the person in charge of the crew. This is contrary to the belief that the crew's level of awareness is the sum of that of the individual crewmembers.

c. Since the awareness level of the person in charge is paramount, it is the responsibility of the rest of the crew to keep their leader well informed of all aspects of the current situation.

d. Symptoms of Situational Awareness Loss:

(1) Fixation.

(2) Ambiguity ‑ facts don't match perceptions.

(3) Complacency ‑ boredom with situation.

(4) Gut Feeling/Confusion ‑ your subconscious is sending you a signal.

(5) Poor Communications ‑ difficulty in getting point across or understanding.

(6) Failure to meet targets ‑ unexplained failure to accomplish tasks.

(7) Using improper procedures ‑ the leading cause of accidents.

(8) Unresolved discrepancies ‑ problems forgotten or ignored.

(9) No one flying the aircraft ‑ the entire crew is involved in other tasks.

(10) Distraction ‑ one particular detail focused on at the expense of others that are equally important or more important.

e. Maintaining Situational Awareness:

(1) Experience and training ‑ Only through practicing basic skills can one cope with routine situations as well as new and/or unexpected events.

(2) Personal health ‑ A healthy body with all of the senses operating at their optimum can detect subtle changes to every situation and process information effectively.

(3) Assertiveness ‑ There must be a sense of responsibility to speak out when action by another crewmember is questionable or not understood.


(4) Spatial orientation ‑ It is important to know what is going on around you at all times.

f. Regaining Situational Awareness: When one of the clues to loss of situational awareness is recognized by a crewmember, they should immediately verbalize their thoughts to the other crewmembers. This will make the other crewmembers aware of any potential threat to the safety of the crew. Situational awareness is simply a matter of knowing what is going on around you at the time. The free‑flow of information among crewmembers is the single most important action in maintaining situational awareness.