Multiple Awarenesses

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Rich Gasaway

Situational Awareness MattersThe mission of this website and my personal passion for situational awareness is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job - from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in between – can influence situational awareness in high-stress, high-consequence decision making environments.

Now I want to introduce you to the concept that you have multiple situational awarenesses, three in fact. Each dimension of situational awareness requires you to capture clues and cues, comprehend those clues and cues into meaning and to predict future events. Let’s explore the three dimensions of your situational awareness.

Continue reading →

Posted in Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Safety, Situational awareness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trained to Fail

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Rich Gasaway

Situational Awareness MattersThere are probably few things I say in a classroom that raises the ire of instructors more than “You’re training your members to fail.” I understand why they wouldn’t want to hear that. No instructor wants a member to fail. Even more so, no instructor wants to be implicated for being the one responsible for the failure. This is especially true when failure results in a casualty. Nonetheless, it’s happening more often than I’d like to see. How do I know? Let me explain.

Continue reading →

Posted in Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Neuroscience, Repetition, Safety, Simulation, Situational awareness, Teamwork, Training | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The irrational obsession with loss

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Rich Gasaway

Situational Awareness MattersThere 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 many casualty incidents. Ironically, the human trait to avoid loss is the same trait that can lead to a firefighter casualty. Let’s investigate this irrational human obsession – avoiding loss.

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 , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 9 – The Synergist

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Rich Gasaway

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 series. In this installment I’m going to talk about the Synergist – the person who seeks others who are like-minded and tends to side with their compatriot’s point of view regardless of the presence of mounting evidence that refutes the position of the like-minded.

This can impact situational awareness because the synergist may be so hell-bent on agreeing with other like-minded individuals that he or she overlooks important clues and cues that indicate something may be going wrong. Let’s explore this phenomenon.

Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego and Self-Esteem, firefighter situational awareness, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Situational Awareness: Catastrophically Important to First Responder Safety

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Rich Gasaway

I use this video to demonstrate the importance of situational awareness. Please do not judge this department, the responders, or the commander. Rather, seek to learn and understand WHY… the things they were doing at the moment in time that things went bad… made sense to them.

Those attending my Mental Management of Emergencies program and my Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder program learn there are at least two dozen situational awareness barriers in play at this incident.

Unless you have a deep understanding of situational awareness – how you gain it, how you maintain it, how you lose it, and how you regain it after you lose it - you and the members of your department are vulnerable for similar outcomes.

Continue reading →

Posted in Decision Making, firefighter situational awareness, Safety, Situational awareness | Tagged , , | Leave a comment