What is the SLAM technique and why should you use it?

Similarly to the STOP method, SLAM (Stop, Look, Assess, Manage) is a technique that workers should use when they feel they are at risk.

The SLAM technique encourages workers to take control of their own safety and that of those around them. It highlights the value of health and safety awareness and provides a clear process to follow for maximum safety. SLAM is used across many industries and disciplines, and it can even be applied outside of traditional health and safety contexts.

This guide (updated in 2025) will explain the four stages of SLAM, its link to situational awareness, and why it should be implemented in your health and safety management practices.

What is situational awareness?

Situational awareness is the ability to recognise what is happening around you now and understand how different factors might influence the near future. It helps workers identify hazards as they appear and judge the level of risk involved. As Adrienne Jones of ACRT Pacific points out: 

“Situational awareness is knowing what’s going on around you. When something happens, humans usually have two responses: the emotional knee‑jerk response or the planned, cognitive response. Situational awareness allows us to react to a situation with composure or prevent a negative situation in the first place.”

There are three main factors that affect situational awareness:

1. Perception – recognising what is happening in your surroundings.

2. Understanding – knowing the potential impact of what is happening.

3. Projection – anticipating what could happen next and working out solutions.

Situational awareness will only be as accurate as your perception, which is why training, experience, and competence play such an important role. High-pressure or stressful situations can reduce situational awareness, increasing the risk of incidents. This is where SLAM comes in. It is a quick, structured method that can be used to maintain situational awareness and make better safety decisions in real time.

Before adopting any new safety tools or procedures that support SLAM, check real customer reviews to see how they work in real workplaces.

What are the four stages of SLAM? 

When following this procedure, it is broken down into four different stages for workers to follow.

1. Stop

Before starting, workers should stop and ask:

• Is this a new task?
• Has the task changed since I first completed it?
• When was the last time I did this task?
• Do I feel comfortable doing it?
• Do I need training to make me comfortable doing it?

Covering these areas of the SLAM principle will help you develop an understanding of the work from a health and safety perspective. This is also a good way to uncover any issues or worries that individuals may have when performing the work. When you are in this stage it is worth considering the impact of any variables that may have changed around the work being done (Health and Safety Executive, 2020). Has the location changed? Have new work methods been introduced? These are all changes that could impact on the health and safety of the work being completed.

2. Look

Employees should look before, during, and after the completion of their tasks.

• Inspect the work area for any potential hazards
• Identify potential hazards for each step of the task
• Consider variables that may change mid-task and create new risks
• Decide how to control or remove identified hazards

If hazards are found, discuss them with a supervisor. This stage is about being proactive in spotting risks early, rather than reacting once an incident has occurred.

3. Assess

All workers, regardless of their seniority, should assess whether they or those around them are equipped to perform a given task safely and correctly.

• Do they have the correct knowledge?
• Do they have the correct skills?
• Do they have the correct training?
• Do they have the correct tools?
• Do they need help to perform a task?
• Do they need more training beforehand?

Any concerns should be discussed with fellow workers and be brought to the attention of a supervisor. This is essential if you want your company to learn how work can be done more safely in the future and if more health and safety training is needed to enable workers to perform the tasks safely.

4. Manage

Managers should take responsibility for eliminating or minimising any hazards on site. This can be done by:

• Ensuring the proper equipment is used and well-maintained
• Thinking about each task completed by workers and assessing what went well compared to what didn’t go well
• Considering how they can be better prepared for future tasks that they or their workers will be undertaking

After you have taken the necessary steps to analyse previous work, SLAM provides a stage for ongoing safety management. This gives you the time to implement some of the learnings you may have developed from the analysis stage and provide ongoing safety improvements and management.

Why should you implement SLAM in your Health and Safety management?

In the UK alone, 123 workers were killed in workplace accidents in 2021/22, and over 441,000 sustained non-fatal injuries (HSE). These figures highlight why situational awareness and risk assessment techniques like SLAM should be part of everyday working life.

SLAM is a method that should always be shared with all workers and managers to ensure maximum safety. This can help to encourage safe working practices so that they become the norm amongst all workers. For more information on safety management processes, our interview with James Pomeroy covers some of the latest best practices in the field.

Common FAQs around the SLAM technique