Tag Archives: incident command
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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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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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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Technology can help and hurt situational awareness
You don’t have to look far and wide to locate cleaver marketing campaigns that make outrageous claims to improve our lives or solve our problems. I’ve been noticing this trend now as it relates to products claiming they “create” situational … Continue reading
Posted in Computers, firefighter situational awareness, Information overload, Mental Models, Safety, Situational awareness, Technology, Workload Management
Tagged decision making under stress, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, incident command, information management, information overload, situational awareness
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New eBook Released!
I’m very excited to announce the release of my new eBook, Situational Awareness Matters Volume 2. The book is a collection of articles from the Situational Awareness Matters website, compiled for your convenience so you don’t have to search them … Continue reading
5 tips for improving situational awareness through training
The overall number of structure fires are down nationwide. For the sake of the citizens we protect, this is a good thing. But for the sake of firefighters who need to gain valuable experience through the proverbial baptism by fire, … Continue reading
Posted in Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Emotions, firefighter situational awareness, Human Behavior, human factors, Mental Models, Repetition, Safety, Simulation, Situational awareness, Stress, Training
Tagged decision making, firefighter safety, firefighter situational awareness, hindsight bias, incident command, judging, judgment, leadership, mental models, pattern matching, realistic training, repetitive training, 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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