Chapter 25 · Mental health and personal safety25.8 Personal safety: situational awareness
Chapter 25 · Mental health and personal safety

25.8 Personal safety: situational awareness

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Most safety problems are avoided by seeing them coming. A simple way to think about your level of attention is Cooper's color scale, used in personal safety courses:

Figure 25.2. Levels of attention (Cooper's color scale, simplified version). In daily life after a disaster, stay in yellow.
  • Yellow is alert but calm: look up from your phone, notice who is nearby, locate exits.
  • Orange: something caught your attention (someone following you, an argument getting heated). Decide right now what you will do if it gets worse.
  • Red: the danger is real. Your action is to move away, go into a place with people, and ask for help. For an armed attack, follow Run, Hide, Fight (chapter 9).
  • Trust your instincts: if a place or a person gives you a bad feeling, leave. You do not need to justify it.