Situational Awareness and Safety Advice During a Night Out

Being continuously aware of your surroundings is difficult to do 100% of the time; it’s quite easy to switch off and let your guard down. Without proper, complete situational awareness, this can provide an assailant with a perfect opportunity to strike in these split seconds.

Mass social gatherings, like concerts, gigs or nights out, are now the norms again following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. While it’s easy to feel safer in a crowd, recent stories of women having had drinks spiked or being injected whilst enjoying a social occasion have only amplified worries about similar situations occurring to others.

Thorough situational awareness training can help you anticipate threats, protect yourself and mitigate risks simultaneously.

Improving Situational Awareness

The dilemma remains how you can retain complete control and situational awareness of your immediate environment, anticipate what could potentially happen and be entirely self-aware, all while enjoying yourself.

Teaching yourself to spot and react to developing threats, while not letting this detract from your social occasion, is difficult. That said, situational awareness training is helpful for individuals in any situation, from your standard Friday or Saturday night on the town to business travellers on location in a hostile environment. The principles of situational awareness remain similar and applicable, wherever you are.

Situational Awareness Training

Stay safe in urban areas with the help of bespoke, structured situational awareness training.

How can you ensure you retain this knowledge and apply the relevant actions while enjoying your night out?

How to Stay Safe on a Night Out

During an evening out, your personal safety and security shouldn’t take a backseat. You’ll benefit significantly from having the innate ability to spot warning signs or potential threats, whilst still being able to enjoy yourself. Other people have the potential to be your biggest worry and danger, and you can reduce the impact of this with complete situational awareness.

These situational awareness and safety tips can ensure you enjoy a social occasion whilst minimising your risk to potential, predominantly-unseen attackers.

Personal Safety Tips

  1. Safety in numbers - always stay within a group of people you trust and know well, which will reduce the risk of being targeted by people with bad intentions.
  2. Pre-book transport and/or travel back with others - it’s worth spending a little extra to ensure that you have a safe ride home, particularly during the early hours. Book licensed cabs or taxis, so you ensure it’s reputable and reliable.
  3. Drink in moderation - it’s vital to know your limits and not push them. You should also keep an eye on your drink(s) all the while, never leave them unattended, and drink water wherever possible.
  4. Keep your valuables hidden - it’s easy to have personal valuables stolen, and if you’re intoxicated, you present an easier target. Keep essentials safely hidden, and don’t use them unless you need to.
  5. Stay in well-lit areas - if you choose to use areas with CCTV, good lighting and other people around, you’re less likely to be attacked.
  6. Avoid hostile situations - if there is a fight or argument, it’s wise to remove yourself from the situation and leave it to SIA licenced security officers.

Travel Safety Tips

Popular destinations like Thailand, Vietnam and Bali (among others) make great partying hotspots for students and anyone taking a gap year. You must stay up to date with recommended advice on when to travel safely, while preparing yourself physically and mentally with thorough, scenario-based travel awareness training.

Famous cases where innocent people have been victimised have made the rounds in recent months, including the well-publicised cases of Leah Croucher and Sarah Everard. There need to be more impactful steps taken to protect people in everyday situations.

For example, the safety initiative ‘Ask for Angela’ is being rolled out to hospitality venues for people who feel vulnerable, threatened or unsafe. They can discreetly ask for help by asking for ‘Angela’, a code phrase indicating they need help.

Importance of Situational Awareness Training

Advanced Tactical Resources’ number one priority is to give you the tools to achieve complete perception of the elements in the environment you find yourself in. We offer a range of training courses, the principles and content of them often overlap, these include:

  • Self-defence training
  • Female situational awareness training
  • Travel awareness training
  • Hostile environment awareness training (HEAT)

There are many ways in which you can practice situational awareness and perfect it. You’ll encounter risks and threats in some capacity, no matter where you are. Still, our training is designed to help you spot the presence of the abnormal and the absence of the normal, and act swiftly and proactively before a situation becomes hostile or dangerous.

ATR are not just specialist training and service providers, but for organisations & individuals that require authorised travel safety equipment, we have products available via our shop.