Category Archives: Tunneled Senses
Radio Traffic Can Improve or Destroy Situational Awareness
When it comes to first responder radio traffic I am reminded of the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You may recall that in the story Goldilocks samples three bowls of porridge. One is too hot. One is too … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Fear, firefighter situational awareness, human factors, Information overload, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Training, Tunneled Senses
Tagged decision making, dispatch, emergency management, EMT, fire, fire command, fire command training, fire training, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, fireground command, fireground command decision making, fireground commander, fireground safety, haz-mat, hazardous materials, officer safety, paramedic, patient care, police officer safety, public safety, radio communications, rescue, responder safety, safety, Situational awareness matters, tactical decision making, technical rescue
Leave a comment
Station Alerting Noise Can Impact Situational Awareness
Noise can erode situational awareness in many ways. Loud noises, soft noises, lots of noise, odd noises, familiar noises, annoying noises… all noise can present challenges. In this article, I want to explore some of the challenges first responders face … Continue reading
Posted in Auditory exclusion, Emotions, Fear, Human Behavior, human factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Technology, Tunneled Senses
Tagged decision making, firefighter situational awareness, fireground command, mental models, noise, sense making, situational awareness, station alerting systems
Leave a comment
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
6 Comments
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
Leave a comment
Explaining Tunnel Vision
When it comes to developing and maintaining situational awareness, tunnel vision is a big deal. Effective situational awareness is developed from having a broad perception of the environment in which you are operating. As your focus narrows, you start to … Continue reading
Understanding stress – Part 8: Time Distortion
Welcome to part 8 on the series dedicated to stress. In the previous segment I talked about the vulnerability of your brain to become overloaded under stress which can impact your situational awareness. In this article I’m going to talk … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, firefighter situational awareness, Information overload, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, size-up, Stress, Tunneled Senses, Workload Management
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, stress, time distortion
1 Comment
Understanding Stress – Part 6: Auditory Exclusion
Welcome to Part 6 of the Understanding Stress series. In the last segment I shared with you some of the ill-effects stress can have on vision and I made brief reference to a term that may be new to many … Continue reading
Posted in Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Tunneled Senses
Tagged auditory exclusion, decision making, firefighter situational awareness, firefighter stress, stress, tunneled senses
4 Comments
Understanding Stress – Part 5: Tunnel Vision
Welcome to Part 5 of my discussion on stress. In the last segment I talked about the positive and negative impacts of hyper vigilance and its impact on first responder situational awareness. While stress-released hormones increase arousal of the senses, … Continue reading
