Situational Awareness

Situational Awareness is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. It has been recognized as a critical, yet often elusive, foundation for successful decision-making across a broad range of situations, including many of the domains of interest to Human Factors.

Definition

Situational Awareness involves being aware of what is happening in the vicinity to understand how information, events, and one's own actions will impact goals and objectives, both immediately and in the near future. One with an adept sense of situational awareness generally has a high degree of perception of the elements in the environment.

Importance

Situational Awareness is extremely important in the decision-making process. In complex, dynamic areas, situational awareness becomes essential in making decisions that are rapid and sound.

Domains

Situational Awareness is applied in various domains such as Aviation, Healthcare, Emergency services, Military operations, and many more. In each of these domains, the concept of situational awareness is used to achieve different objectives.

See also

• Cognition
• Decision-making
• Human Factors
• Perception

External links

• National Interagency Fire Center: Situational Awareness

Situational Awareness Resources
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