Awareness of one’s surroundings during important activities such as driving, flying aircraft, crossing a busy street and etc. are essential to avoiding injury or death.

We identify five levels of awareness that each of us as humans may pass through during our daily lives. Those levels are categorized as colors for easy identification and application. Identifying where a crewmember is in relation to their levels of awareness will enhance security by making them aware of where they are in the awareness continuum and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each level. We will address and discuss the Causal Factors, Characteristics and Communications of each level of awareness.

We are ALWAYS in one level or another as we go about our lives. It is important that your awareness level be where they are supposed to be at critical moments. Unfortunately, many people are caught in a dangerous situation because they either didn’t recognize the warning signs or when they did recognize the danger they froze for lack of knowledge, i.e. training to deal with the situation.

A Marine officer named Jeff Cooper observed similar levels of awareness when he saw his troops in Viet Nam being killed because they were not at the proper level of awareness, or as he phrased it, “levels of consciousness.” The concept behind these levels was expanded and applied to aviation, particularly in looking at human factor issues involved with both incidents and accidents. The concept was also successfully applied to law enforcement and personal protection programs.