Mount Nittany Health’s Security team is dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, patients, and guests at our 19 locations across the community. Dane Danko, Security Manager at Mount Nittany Health, shares tips about how being aware of your surroundings can help keep you safe at home, work, or in the community.
With an increasing number of distractions in our everyday lives, it’s important to maintain situational awareness. This can increase your reaction time and improve the quality of the decisions you make should something unexpected happen.
Three steps of situational awareness are:
- Recognition – being alerted to something out of the ordinary that could pose a threat
- Assessment – analyzing the situation and your response options
- Response – taking direct action to increase the chance of better outcomes
How can you practice situational awareness every day?
- Be focused and vigilant
- Take time to look around periodically
- Don’t use your cell phone when walking and walk with your eyes up
- Make decisions based on your environment
- Know your closest exits
- Look for security or authorities that may be of help
- Look for suspicious people in unauthorized areas
- Look for hazards
- Lock your car doors
- Walk in well-lit areas at night
- Walk in groups when walking through parking lots
As the saying goes, “Prevention is the best medicine” and the same can be said about practicing situational awareness. Taking steps to prevent and be prepared for the unexpected can go a long way in achieving better outcomes.