Situational Awareness - The Art of Noticing
- Anna Hayford
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
There is a lot more information in our world than we are able to take in at any given time.
This month's safety blast and session are about noticing - training your brain to be able to take in more information about your surroundings than it naturally would.
To illustrate, please watch this fun video:
Spoilers for the video below**
Ok, so what did we learn there? I would wager a guess that some people saw one or a couple of changes, but there's about a 0% chance that anyone saw 21 things change in that video.
Our brain was concentrated on the whodunnit (the task). When we're intensely focused on one task, we can completely miss unexpected but obvious information in plain sight.
Without seeing it, it seems impossible that we'd miss 21 things changing in our surroundings at once, but hey, it just happened!
Let's apply this to work safety.
Have you ever been so focused on one task that you didn't notice someone standing right beside you? This isn't because you are easily "distracted," it's because your brain is doing exactly what you asked it to do: focus on one task.
Psychologists call this selective attention or inattentional blindness—when concentrating on one thing causes us to miss other important information around us.
On a job site, our "whodunnit" might be:
Reading a set of plans
Taking measurements
Operating equipment
Filling out paperwork
Inspecting one specific item
Talking with a coworker
While we're focused on completing that task, we may completely miss:
A trip hazard developing nearby
Equipment entering our work area
Someone working overhead
A suspended load
Changing weather conditions
An open excavation
A vehicle backing toward us
A coworker entering our line of fire
The hazard wasn't hidden. Our attention simply wasn't on it.
Don't Become Task Blind.
Before starting any task, ask yourself:
What has changed since I last looked around?
What's happening above, below, behind, and beside me?
Who else is working in this area?
What could change while I'm focused on this task?
Then continue to periodically stop, scan, and reassess your surroundings throughout the job.
Remember:
Situational awareness isn't just paying attention to your work—it's paying attention to everything that could affect your work.
The safest workers aren't the ones who focus the hardest. They're the ones who know when to look up.
Your Task:
Rather than a quiz this month, we've put together a scavenger hunt to help you notice more in your everyday life. This list was compiled from The 99% Invisible City and The Art of Noticing.
Get your Scavenger Hunt here!
Page 1 is fillable, page 2 is printable.
If you submit your scavenger hunt, even if you don't find everything, by emailing it to Safety@barryisett.com or uploading it on the form here, you'll earn 2 Barry Bucks and an entry to win a copy of one of those two books.
