Category Archives: size-up
Confirmation Bias Impacts Situational Awareness
The foundation of situational awareness is capturing clues and cues in your environment – what some would call “paying attention” - and then making sense of those clues and cues – what some would call “understanding” – and then making projections … Continue reading
Posted in Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, human factors, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up
Tagged cognitive bias, confirmation bias, decision making under stress, firefighter rescue, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, flashover, flawed situational awareness, incident command, information management, situational awareness
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Situational Awareness: Think Past, Present & Future
Flawed situational awareness (SA) is one of the leading contributing factors to first responder near-miss and casualty events. In fact, it is nearly impossible to find a line-of-duty death investigation report that does not implicate flawed SA, or one of … Continue reading
Ignoring the Signs of Danger
A lesson on situational awareness: The tones drop for a reported residential fire. On the way, dispatch reports multiple calls, confirming a working fire. On arrival the crew sees fire blowing out the B-C corner of the single story, detached … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Fear, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses
Tagged decision making under stress, firefighter rescue, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, flashover, flawed situational awareness, incident command, information management, mayday, situational awareness
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Aggressiveness and Situational Awareness
I was recently contacted by email from a Situational Awareness Matters member asking if aggressiveness and safety can co-exist at an emergency scene. My answer was “of course they can.” The two actions, being safe and being aggressive are not … Continue reading
Posted in building construction, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Emotions, Human Behavior, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, Training
Tagged aggressive tactics, decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, situational awareness, size up
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Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness
Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas everyone! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and I have caught the Christmas spirit in a very situational awareness sort of way. Surely you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Gasaway Consulting Group, human factors, Incompetence, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, size-up, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management
Tagged communications, decision making under stress, firefighter casualties, firefighter safety, fireground command, public safety, safety, situational awareness, staffing, teamwork, training, vigilance
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Seeing the bad things coming in time to change the outcome
The mission of Situational Awareness Matters! is “Helping responders see the bad things coming… in time to change the outcome.” That is often easier said than done. In fact, the lessons that sharpen our situational awareness often comes after the … Continue reading
Posted in Complacency, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Personal protective equipment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Tunneled Senses
Tagged decision making, decision making under stress, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, line of duty death, near-miss reports, situational awareness
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Begin With The End In Mind
One of the essential components of well-developed situational awareness is being able to accurately predict the future. This prediction should be made during the initial scene size up and then it should be updated often as the incident progresses. In … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Training, Workload Management
Tagged begin with the end in mind, comprehension, decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, judgment, leadership, perception, projection, situational awareness, standard predictable outcomes
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Working Command and Situational Awareness
I seem to be getting asked a lot lately about what the first arriving company officer should do at a working structure fire. Specifically, the debate revolves around two basic premise. Should the first arriving company officer assume a fixed … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Stress, Teamwork, Workload Management
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, judgment, leadership, mobile command, situational awareness, working command
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Every EMS Call Starts with Scene Safety
“Scene Safe, BSI.” These words have been uttered by every first responder who has ever received medical training. In fact, any responder who has performed a practical exercise for certification knows the first two mandatory skills to be completed on … Continue reading
Posted in Checklists, Communications, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, size-up, Training
Tagged decision making, emergency medical services, EMS, firefighter safety, first responder training, incident command, leadership, scene safety, situational awareness
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