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Rich Gasaway

Richard B. Gasaway served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic and fire chief. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree while studying how individuals, teams and organizations develop and maintain situational awareness and make decisions in high stress, high consequence, time compressed environments. Dr. Gasaway is widely considered to be one of the nation's leading authorities on first responder situational awareness and decision making. His material has been featured and referenced in more than 400 book chapters, research projects, journal articles, podcasts, webinars and videos. His research and passion to improve workplace safety through improved situational awareness is unrivaled. Dr. Gasaway's leadership and safety programs have been presented to more than 42,000 first responders, emergency managers, medical providers, military personnel, aviation employees, industrial workers and business leaders throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Helmet Cams and Risky Behaviors

I recently fielded a question from a Situational Awareness Matters member on the use of helmet cameras and the impact it might have on situational awareness. Here is the question: Would you please be so kind as to point me in the direction of literature, articles, websites or advice on the impact of personal cameras […]

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Episode 214 | Dave Beauregard Interview – Part 1

This episode is Part 1 of a two-part near-miss interview with Chicopee Fire Department Deputy Chief Dave Beauregard.  Length: 47 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher

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Giving L.I.P. to R.I.T.

  I would like to share the results of a series of informal polls I have been conducting over a several year period. I conducted these surveys during my Firefighter Safety: Mistakes & Best Practices programs. Roughly 7,000 first responders have participated. There is nothing scientific about this survey or the results. It was merely

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Episode 213 | Jim Woolf Interview – Part 2

This episode is Part 2 of a two-part interview with Twinsburg (Ohio) Fire-Medic Jim Woolf.  Length: 44 minutes   click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check

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Frustration – A barrier to situational awareness

Have you ever found yourself so frustrated at an individual or a situation that you become fixated on that issue? When this happens, oftentimes, we become hyper focused on the individual or the situation and can lose awareness of the bigger picture. When this occurs, critical clues and cues, essential to the formation of situational

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Episode 212 | Jim Woolf Interview – Part 1

This episode is Part 1 of a two-part interview with Twinsburg (Ohio) Fire-Medic Jim Woolf.  Length: 42 minutes   click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check

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Mayday Radio Channel

I recently was contacted by a fire officer asking whether their mayday procedure should include a provision for a dedicated mayday channel for the distressed crew to transmit their post-mayday traffic on. This is a question I’ve been asked often enough that I want to dedicate an article to the topic of mayday communications procedures.

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Episode 211 | 4th Anniversary episode

This episode celebrates the 4th anniversary of the SAMatters show and chronicles the history of the founder and his tireless mission to improve situational awareness and high-risk decision making.  Length: 45 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding

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Flawed Situational Awareness at Structure Fires

How significant (or stated another way… “How big a deal”) is flawed situational awareness as a contributing factor to firefighter near-miss events at structure fires? A. Not that big a deal B. Pretty big deal C. Really big deal (If you have attended one of my situational awareness programs you probably already know the answer

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Episode 210 | Observations and lessons from FDIC

This episode shares observations and lessons learned from the 2018 International Fire Department Instructors Conference.  Length: 64 minutes         click the YouTube icon to listen       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the Situational Awareness

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