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Rich Gasaway

Richard B. Gasaway served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic and fire chief. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree while studying how individuals, teams and organizations develop and maintain situational awareness and make decisions in high stress, high consequence, time compressed environments. Dr. Gasaway is widely considered to be one of the nation's leading authorities on first responder situational awareness and decision making. His material has been featured and referenced in more than 400 book chapters, research projects, journal articles, podcasts, webinars and videos. His research and passion to improve workplace safety through improved situational awareness is unrivaled. Dr. Gasaway's leadership and safety programs have been presented to more than 42,000 first responders, emergency managers, medical providers, military personnel, aviation employees, industrial workers and business leaders throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Virtual Reality Simulations – The Paul Speight Interview. (Episode 263)

Leave a Comment / Automation, Cognitive Memory, Competency, Culture, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Mental Models, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception Of Reality, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Simulation, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Technology, Training /

During this interview, Paul Speight from the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service in the United Kingdom shares how his department is developing virtual reality simulations to train first responders. Length: 72 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness […]

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Room for Improvement

2 Comments / Accountability, Article, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Decision Making, Expectations, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness /

I recently read an investigation report where a firefighter died and it made me sad. First, as we see so often in after action reviews, it appears as though the tragedy may have been preventable. The second thing that made me sad about this investigation report was the inaccurate and incomplete recommendations about situational awareness.

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No Cost Hosting: How to Host a Program for Free. (SAM 262)

Leave a Comment / Communications, Culture, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Teamwork /

If you have the ambition to host a program on situational awareness for your department or region, this is a must-watch episode.  We will share the secret sauce for how you can host a one or two-day event that costs your department nothing. Length: 62 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full

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Pre Arrival Lens and Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Article, Communications, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness /

The pre-arrival lens is a neurological phenomenon that can both help and hinder situational awareness. The “lens” is your mental view of the incident you are responding to, developed prior to your arrival,  and based on the triangulation of three primary data sources – dispatch information (shared via radio), past experience and imagination. This article

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Electrocuted by a downed power line – The Tom Ehlers Story – Part 2 (Episode 261)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Disoriented, Emotions, Equipment, Gut Feeling, Human Error, Intuition, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Personal Protective Equipment, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Training, Tunnel Vision, Vigilance /

Listen in as firefighter Tom Ehlers and fire chief Wesley Cole share their story about a fire incident where Tom was struck by a falling 14k volt power line on the scene of a fire.  This is part 2 of the 2 part series. Length: 62 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the

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Situational Awareness Matters

The Perfect Storm

1 Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness /

In one of my recent Mental Management of Emergencies classes a participant was describing an incident that resulted in several first responder casualties. As he shared the details, he described the unfolding of events as “The Perfect Storm.” This article will discuss the origins of that phrase and share why we should consider changing our

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Electrocuted by a falling power line – The Tom Ehler’s Story – Part 1 (Episode 260)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Disoriented, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Gut Feeling, Human Error, Intuition, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Personal Protective Equipment, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Training, Tunnel Vision, Vigilance /

Listen in as firefighter Tom Ehlers and fire chief Wesley Cole share their story about a fire incident where Tom was struck by a falling 14k volt power line on the scene of a fire. Length: 54 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in

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Safeguards – It’s a fair question

5 Comments / Article, Culture, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Physical Fitness, Safety, Situational awareness, Training /

I had the opportunity recently to talk with a very progressive fire chief about situational awareness. I really enjoy my conversations with him because I always learn something. He was telling me that his department just hired 17 new paid-on-call members. He shared with me that during the hiring process he visits the home of

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Sneak Peek into a Live Situational Awareness Training Program (Episode 259)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Over Confident, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Radios, Risk, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Size Up, Staffing, Task Fixation, Teamwork /

The Situational Awareness Matters signature program was presented live at the Ponderosa Fire Department in Houston Texas. This episode is a sneak peek into a segment of the program. Click HERE to see all the programs I offer! Length: 47 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you

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Overstaffing

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Expectations, Frustration, Interruptions, Over Staffing, understaffing /

It’s not something talked about often in situational awareness circles – over staffing. Far more often the focus is on issues of under staffing which, coincidentally, can be a significant barrier to situational awareness and can have a catastrophic impact on safety. There can be, on occasion, scenarios where an incident scene ends up having

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