Rich Gasaway, Author at Situational Awareness Matters!™

Episode 143 | Memory and situational awareness

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Explicit Knowledge, Gut Feeling, Information overload, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Overload, SAMatters Radio, Short Term Memory, Tacit Knowledge / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we examine the role that short-term and long-term memory plays in helping first responders develop and maintain situational awareness. Length: 29 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 […]

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Situational Awareness of Your Weakest Link

Leave a Comment / Article, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Training / Rich Gasaway

It has often been said: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” [tweet this] This is true. Regardless of how fortified the individual links are, when the chain is stressed under a load, the breaking point will be the weakest link. The same can be said of situational awareness at an emergency scene.

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Episode 142 | Interview with Near Miss Survivor Rick Mehaffey

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Building Construction, Close Call, Complacency, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk Assessment, SAMatters Radio, Tunnel Vision, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Captain Ricky Mehaffey from the Waynesville NC Fire Department, chronicles his near-miss survival story where 3 firefighters almost died at a “routine” chimney fire. Length: 48 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making

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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 5

3 Comments / Article, Culture, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

This is the final segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series. In this article I want to share my personal perspectives on the catastrophic outcomes that result when the ingredients of the recipe come together. [tweet this] You may recall in the first segment I shared with you that I see this recipe being used over and

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Episode 141 | Confabulation

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Confabulation, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Human Factors, Information overload, Miscommunications, Neuroscience, Overload, Perception Of Reality, Progress Reports, SAMatters Radio, Stress / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we explore how the brain confabulates – or makes up its own reality. In the absence of facts, the brain can start to invent or create its own reality. This can be dangerous on emergency scenes. Length: 22 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are

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Flawed Situational Awareness: A stealth killer – Live Training

Live Events / Rich Gasaway

Flawed Situational Awareness: A stealth killer Program Length: 4-8 hours Appropriate for: First Responders (Fire, Police, EMS) Supervisors Trainers Training Program Managers Safety Professionals Program Description This program shares the powerful findings of Dr. Gasaway’s extensive research on issues related to first responder decision making and flawed situational awareness. In his review of hundreds of near-miss

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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 4

4 Comments / Article, Complacency, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the fourth step of the recipe – complacency – and more specifically letting your safety guard down and how it can result in failure to learn, implement and practice nationally accepted best practices. As complacency sets in, an organization can lose its inertia and its

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Episode 140 | Speaking up

2 Comments / Assertiveness, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Insubordination, Mental Models, Miscommunications, Risk, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Stress / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I interview my son, Cameron Gasaway, a firefighter with the Madison, Wisconsin Fire Department, about why it is so hard to speak up when you see something that’s going wrong. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of

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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 3

4 Comments / Article, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

In this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the third step of the recipe – confidence and more specifically how an over-inflated sense of confidence can erode firefighter situational awareness. Confidence is the sense of assurance that results from the performance of duties believed to be high quality. [tweet this] The problem is confidence

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Episode 139 | Building expert knowledge

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Competency, Experience, Long-Term Memory, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, SAMatters Radio, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we discuss ideas for how to build expert knowledge in first responders, especially during a time when the number of structure fires is declining. Length: 22 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to

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