When we find ourselves driving on an icy road, our attention to detail becomes acute. We see every dark patch on the roadway and game plan how we will respond if our wheels were to slip or slide. We accept that the threat of losing control is real and focus our attention and actions to avoid a bad outcome.
I would separate situational awareness into two components: 1) Vigilance - the ability to detect what is going on around you; and 2) Decision making - what you ultimately do with the information at hand. Vigilance seems to be hardwired in people and thus harder to develop. However, decision-making is a skill that people can learn and through practice get better at fairly quickly. In my experience, these two components are not highly correlated with each other.
I first started my career conducting job analyses for The Gas Company in Los Angeles during the late 90s and early 00's. Vigilance turned out to be an important predictor in job performance. High vigilance was required for power plant operators, heavy equipment operators, even meter readers (watch out for dogs, don't get hit by cars) but not for jobs that required more specific focus and attention a single tasks such as pipefitters, welders, billing clerks, and drafters.
I would separate situational awareness into two components: 1) Vigilance - the ability to detect what is going on around you; and 2) Decision making - what you ultimately do with the information at hand. Vigilance seems to be hardwired in people and thus harder to develop. However, decision-making is a skill that people can learn and through practice get better at fairly quickly. In my experience, these two components are not highly correlated with each other.
I first started my career conducting job analyses for The Gas Company in Los Angeles during the late 90s and early 00's. Vigilance turned out to be an important predictor in job performance. High vigilance was required for power plant operators, heavy equipment operators, even meter readers (watch out for dogs, don't get hit by cars) but not for jobs that required more specific focus and attention a single tasks such as pipefitters, welders, billing clerks, and drafters.