The OODA Loop, Situational Awareness and Safety Performance

When you look at the title of this article, you may think I went off the cliff. Read on, there’s a good toolbox talk in this for our employees in it as well as sound Safety Psychology and Human Performance theories to use in developing a great Risk Management program.

        The OODA Loop is a concept developed by analyzing aerial combat during the Korean War by fighter pilot and instructor Col. John Boyd. Col. Boyd analyzed dogfights to determine why the USAF F-86 Sabre in the capable hands of US pilots were winning the air war against Soviet pilots flying MiG–15’s; a fighter with better performance and armament. The answer was that pilot experience and visibility favored US Air Force pilots flying F-86’s. This led to his development of the theory of the OODA Loop.

        OODA is the acronym for:

·        Observe

·        Orient

·        Decide

·        Act

         By now, you’re thinking: “How does that apply to Safety Performance?” Let’s tie this all together using Situational Awareness as a starting point! I’m going to really simplify the concept as it will work just as well in giving people skills to recognize, evaluate and implement hazard controls to prevent injuries and property damage as a long, complicated explanation that will ensure everyone has a nice nap.

        The Observe phase of OODA is quite simply, what is going on around you. Visual observations, sounds of people and machines and operating normally and odors in your environment should provide you with a baseline condition from which to evaluate the situation. Initially, pay attention to how people act and what they do as well as the sights, sounds and smells associated with normal operations. If you remember Cooper’s Color Codes from my last article, this is Condition Yellow or relaxed awareness. You see and hear what is normal and expected, but will be alert to react to what is abnormal.

        The Orient phase of OODA is your brain and body processing the information you are taking in based on your observations of sights sounds and smells in the environment. A new person on the jobsite, a machine making an abnormal noise, some out of sequence pattern of operation, an odor that is not normal for the area; in fact any deviation from what should be expected during normal operations should trigger you or your employees to focus on the abnormal occurrence. Here is where good safety training pays off.

        As you Observe a situation, you should be able to mentally compare it to what is expected; an employee properly using fall protection when working at elevation (including properly connecting the harness to the anchor point), an attendant at the entry to the properly delineated confined space, employees working with tools generating flying projectiles wearing safety glasses (and face shields if that is the policy), the absence of an odor or eye irritation in an area, etc. If the expected condition or behavior is not observed; it should trigger an action by the observer. That action may be to further observe the condition or behavior to determine if it is acceptable or not; it may also be to sound the alarm and warn others of a hazard present. This is the key phase in the whole process!

        The Decide phase of OODA is what you do to select the best action to correct the situation or control the hazard. Great organizations invest in safety training to give their employees knowledge and also invest in safety equipment to keep them productive. Great organizations also empower employees to implement hazard controls as they have been trained.. They also empower employees to make management aware of unforeseen or undiscovered hazards so they can be properly evaluated and implement effective hazard controls/risk treatment. Using the work at elevation hazard, selecting the best hazard control may involve using different control measures; the final choice dependent on the most efficient for the task to be performed. Picking the best option may be simple or may involve input from workers, supervisors and safety personnel. Selecting the appropriate PPE for using a grinder can involve determining the likelihood of spraying hot sparks or cold debris, grinding wheel shattering (always a possibility) and loss of control of the grinder itself. The better the training and risk communication, the better decisions people will make.

        One characteristic of great organizations is that they emphasize the value of each employee as an asset to achieving the organizational goals. As such, employees should be encouraged to adopt an attitude of “I am my Brother’s Keeper.” when it involves employee safety. If during the Orientation phase, deviations from safe work practices are seen, employees should feel empowered to bring that to another’s attention. The impact of accidents affects organizational survival as a whole. Correcting the situation ensures that we all have jobs, productivity is maintained as well as profitability that provides us with a paycheck!

        The Act phase of OODA is implementing the decision you or your workgroup made. If the job task you are about to perform requires measures to control the hazard/treat the risk to bring it to an acceptable level, then you should do it or use a stand down (stop work authority) to reassess the condition and bring the hazard under control. Once hazard controls/risk treatment has been implemented, it should be assessed for effectiveness and/or efficiency by returning to the Observe phase again and re-engaging the loop.

        If your workplace has a Quality Management process, you will recognize the above process as the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle (among other names for this process). Also, for those who are students of Col. Boyd’s OODA Loop philosophy, you will note that I really simplified these explanations. Simplified, it still works very well for focusing people on the mental process of safe work performance without being overly complex.

        What I like about using the OODA Loop as a safety performance tool, is that it is a POSITIVE process. Too often, we safety people get wrapped up in regulatory compliance, policy and a big list of Don’t Do’s. OODA is a DO process; easy for employees to remember because of its unusual name. It can also help guide your organization as a much larger concept process as in adopting of a Safety Management System to guide your Safety program.

        It can also apply to non-work aspects of your life as well. Learning to recognize and properly react to hazards is an important survival skill.