Category Archives: Culture
High Reliability Organizations – Traits
There’s a lot being talked about these days about the concept of high reliability organizations. The concept is being embraced by many hospitals throughout the United States and, arguably, for good reason. The principles of highly reliable organizations have direct … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Communications, Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Information overload, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, high reliability organizations, HROs
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The comfortable routine of complacency
We all know we have habits. Some of them are good habits. And some of them are…well… not so good. The less often talked about cousin of a habit is a routine. Habits and routines can impact situational awareness in … Continue reading
Posted in Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness
Tagged complacency, decision making, firefighter safety, habits, incident command, leadership, routines, situational awareness
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360° Size Up
Situational awareness starts with capturing clues and cues in your environment. It’s really quite a simple premise. To capture clues and cues requires seeing or hearing them. At a structure fire, the visual clues and cues occupy a finite environment- … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, human factors, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines
Tagged 360 degree size up, Colerain Township Fire Department, decision making, decision making under stress, Firefighter Line of Duty Death, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, firefighter training, fireground command, fireground size up, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, safety culture, size up
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Resilient Problem Solvers
Perhaps you’re going to think I’ve been out in the South Carolina sun too long when you read this proclamation: I want you to make more mistakes! What? It’s true, I do. But before you stop reading this article out … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Repetition, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training
Tagged brain wiring, cognition, decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, high reliability organizations, neuroscience, resilient problem solving, teamwork, training, training for failure
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Another False Alarm: A Tale of Complacency
Complacency is a big deal for first responders because it impacts your situational awareness on multiple levels. I would like to give every responder the benefit of the doubt that if or when they have found him or herself being … Continue reading
Posted in Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness
Tagged complacency, complacent mindset, decision making, fire alarm response, fire chief, firefighter, fireground command, fireground command situational awareness, fireground safety, incident awareness
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Radio Discipline
A frequent contributing factor in firefighter casualty incidents is too much radio traffic. This can have a significant impact on first responder situational awareness because it becomes near impossible to take in, process, comprehend and remember the volumes of information … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Culture, Distractions and Interruptions, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness
Tagged communications, decision making, fire chief, firefighter, fireground command, fireground command situational awareness, fireground safety, incident awareness, radio discipline, radio procedures
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The irrational obsession with loss
There is a growing body of research revealing that many human’s have an irrational obsession with loss. Or, perhaps more accurately, an irrational obsession with AVOIDING loss. This phenomenon is something I have seen played out in my evaluation of … Continue reading
Posted in Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego and Self-Esteem, Fear, firefighter situational awareness, Leadership, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, fireground command, fireground command situational awareness, groupthink, loss aversion, obsession with loss
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Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 9 – The Synergist
Welcome to this, the last of the nine part series on dangerous mindsets. From the feedback I’m getting, this series hit some chords with readers. I appreciate the kind words about my observations and the advice I’ve dispensed throughout this … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego and Self-Esteem, firefighter situational awareness, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, freelancing, gasaway consulting group, incident command, independent action, leadership, situational awareness, teamwork
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Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 8 – The Slacker
Welcome to part eight of the Nine Dangerous Mindsets series. In this installment I’m going to take on one of the most challenging and perhaps one of the most frustrating mindsets – the Slacker. This mindset is dangerous to situational … Continue reading
Posted in Complacency, Culture, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, Training
Tagged complacent, decision making, decision making under stress, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, gasaway consulting group, human error, human factors, lazy, slacker
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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 6: The Silent
Before I get into this topic, I want to give a little shout out to attendees from my “Get in the Loop” tour stops so far in 2012. If you haven’t been following my Twitter updates (including my surviving a … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego and Self-Esteem, Fear, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress
Tagged communications, decision making, ego, extrovert, fire chief, fire command, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, incident commander, introvert, leadership, public safety, safety, self-esteem, situational awareness
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