Automatic Action Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Trapped in a Tunnel – The Joe Pronesti Story (Episode 335)

Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / By Rich Gasaway

Captain Pronesti was involved in advancing a hoseline and fighting the underground fire. While approximately 300’ inside the tunnel on the attack, his low air alarm started ringing. He ran out of air before making it completely out, disconnected his regulator and breathed products of combustion. Upon exiting, he provided a briefing to his commander …

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The 360 Degree Size-up (Episode 329)

Accountability, Assumptions, Automatic Action, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Expectations, Habits, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Progress Reports, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation / By Rich Gasaway

You might think that by now the importance of completing a 360-degree size-up would be second nature for firefighters. But it’s not. In fact, failing to complete a proper size-up remains one of the most often cited contributing factors in NIOSH Line-of-Duty death reports. There are lots of reasons why proper size-ups are not completed. …

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Overconfidence – A Dangerous Minefield (Episode 296)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Automatic Action, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Incompetence, Judgment, Leadership, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Optimism, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Tacit Knowledge, Under Confident / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we review the Overconfidence chapter of my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 28 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check …

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Trapped Under A Ceiling Collapse. The Ron Hunter Story (Episode 291)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Gut Feeling, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission Myopia, Over Confident, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Time Distortion, Training / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I interview Spartanburg Fire Lieutenant, Ron Hunter, as he recounts the mayday and RIT activation after being trapped under a collapsed ceiling at an apartment building fire. Length: 71 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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Thirty Seconds from Death – The Randy Hanifen Story (Episode 287)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Excited, Experience, Goals, Judgment, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, understaffing, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, West Chester Captain Randy Hanifen shared the details of a near-miss inside a residential dwelling fire where, if circumstances were just slightly different, he might have been killed in a flashover. Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your …

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Pre-Conception (Episode 270)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Expectations, Goals, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Judgment, Mission, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up / By Rich Gasaway

This episode discusses how pre-conception can impact situational awareness. Length: 19 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the Situational Awareness Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for details, enrollment …

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Firefighter Through the Floor – The Matt Marlow Story (Episode 266)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Expectations, Lost Focus, Mission Myopia, Over Confident, Pre Arrival Lens, Response Time Delays, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Matt Marlow shares how his late arrival on a structure fire led to a complacent mindset and caused him to fall through the floor at a residential structure fire. Length: 78 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding …

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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 / By Rich Gasaway

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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Thornton Fire Mayday Story – Part 3 (Episode 258)

This interview is part 3 of a 3-part series detailing the events surrounding Thornton Fire-Medic Roy Lapid mayday call, rescue from the basement and lessons learned. Length: 65 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk …

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Thornton Fire Mayday Story. Part 1 (Episode 256)

This interview is part 1 of a 3-part series detailing the events surrounding Thornton Fire-Medic Roy Lapid mayday call, rescue from the basement and lessons learned. Length: 68 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk …

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