Sponsored by:

Maintaining Situational Awareness

Many animals and even some people are credited with having a sixth sense for knowing or anticipating events before they happen. The benefits of this seemingly supernatural power can be enjoyed by applying a discipline known as situational awareness.

Situational awareness is a technique that has been practiced by pilots and military personnel for several years. Situational awareness is a discipline that requires a person to be constantly aware of his/her surroundings and to constantly anticipate what might happen next. By constantly being aware of what might happen one is better able to plan an appropriate response before an event occurs, thereby avoiding surprises.

With the hazardous environments in which thermographers frequently work, practicing situational awareness make sense. Thermographers can apply the discipline of situational awareness by observing the following:

• Always be aware of your immediate surroundings and the hazards contained therein
• Recognize how the actions of others might affect your situation
• Be aware of weather or environmental conditions that could present a hazard
• Have an emergency response for any situation that could occur
• Know where emergency equipment and communications devices are located
• Identify both primary and secondary evacuation routes for use in case of an emergency

Practicing situational awareness means that you plan for what could go wrong instead of what is likely to go wrong and have preplanned responses for any eventuality. Taking some time to practice situational awareness can vastly improve your personal safety by helping to eliminate surprises and the confusion that goes along with them.

Thermographer safety is one of the many topics covered in the Infraspection Institute Level I Certified Infrared Thermographer^® training course. For more information on class locations or our Distance Learning program, visit www.infraspection.com or call 609-239-4788.