Category Archives: Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines
Firefighting: It’s a whole new ballgame
There is little doubt the recent recession has had a significant impact on the nation’s fire service. Hardly a day goes by where there’s not some news about an organization that had downsized, rightsized or capsized. There are all kinds … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Fear, Human Behavior, Leadership, Mayday and RIT, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management
Tagged decision making, decision making under stress, fire service leadership, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, high reliability organizations, leadership, organizational culture, problem solving, resiliency, resilient problem solving, safety, situational awareness, staffing, teamwork, training
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Administrative chiefs and emergency responses
I recently received an email from a firefighter asking for my opinion as to whether or not the administrative chief officers in his department should respond to reported structure fires. My initial response was: “Well, Duh! Yes!” But then I … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego and Self-Esteem, firefighter situational awareness, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Workload Management
Tagged fire chief, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, fireground safety, ICS, incident command, incident management, situational awareness, strategy and tactics
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Complex Communications
We have many traits that make us uniquely human. Among them is our ability to engage in complex communications. We can look at black ink squiggled on a piece of bleached paper and derive meaning from those symbols. We call … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Information overload, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress
Tagged accountability, communications, complexity, decision making, dispatchers, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, judgment, leadership, LUNAR, mayday, miscommunications, radio communications, situational awareness
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Dispatchers role in situational awareness
One of the situational awareness best practices discussed during the Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder program is the role played by the dispatcher during an emergency incident. As I have discussed this many times with first responders throughout … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, firefighter situational awareness, Information overload, Mayday and RIT, Personnel location, Safety, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management
Tagged 9-1-1, command support, command team, coordination, decision making, dispatch center, dispatchers, elapsed time notification, ETN, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, mayday, mayday policy, PAR, personnel accountability report, radio channels, radio communications, rapid intervention teams, situational awareness, stress, training
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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 … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training
Tagged coordination, decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, mayday, mayday policy, radio channels, radio communications, rapid intervention teams, situational awareness, stress, training
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When Budgets Impact Staffing, Tactics Must Change
Throughout the fire service there are departments whose staffing has been reduced as a result of budget cuts. That is not going to come as a shock to most readers. What has been shocking for me, however, has been the … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork
Tagged command competency, decision making, fire department leadership, firefighter safety, incident command, leadership, situational awareness, staffing, strategy, tactics
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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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Independent Actions Can Impact Team Situational Awareness
For some public safety agencies it is standard practice for the first arriving personnel (or crews of personnel) to deploy independently. Oftentimes these responders are highly trained, highly motivated and action oriented. What they are lacking is coordination of their … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Crew Resource Management, firefighter situational awareness, Personnel location, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, freelancing, gasaway consulting group, incident command, independent action, leadership, situational awareness, teamwork
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A must-see safety video
As a great follow-up to the Recipe from Hell’s Kitchen series, I want to recommend you watch this video created by the Chicago Fire Department that depicts the powerful life stories of firefighters who have been injured or killed.
Posted in Accountability, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Fear, firefighter situational awareness, Incompetence, Leadership, Physical Fitness, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, size-up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Workload Management
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, leadership, situational awareness
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