Communications

These are the first responder decision making and situational awareness issues and opportunities related to radio, face-to-face and interpersonal communications.

Pre-Arrival Lens, Task Fixation, Mission Myopia and Fear (Episode 246)

Leave a Comment / Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Experience, Fear, Human Factors, Intuition, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Perception Of Reality, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Vigilance /

In this episode, you get to sit in on a segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway discusses four situational awareness barriers. Length: 33 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 […]

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Peer Pressure Can Impact Situational Awareness

2 Comments / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork /

The social interaction between coworkers may not be on your mind as you think about  situational awareness. But the fact is we are all influenced by our relationships with others. We have an inherent internal desire to be well-liked and respected. We also have a very strong internal drive to avoid embarrassment. These traits of

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How We Understand (Episode 245)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Decision Making, Expectations, Gut Feeling, Human Factors, Interruptions, Intuition, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Overload, Pattern Matching, Perception, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Short Term Memory, Simulation, Situational awareness, Tacit Knowledge, Vigilance /

In this episode, you get to sit in on a short segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway explains the second component in the situational awareness process – how your brain develops understanding. Length: 47 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in

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Weather Can Impact Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Fatigue, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork, Weather /

You may recall from earlier discussions that situational awareness is formed by gathering information about what is happening in the environment around you. Then, your brain takes that information and attempts to form an understanding of what it all means. Finally, after understanding what it means, you make predictions of future events. This is a

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The Downside of Experience

2 Comments / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Competency, Decision Making, Ego, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Incompetence, Leadership, Training /

There are numerous vocations and daily activities that could be considered extremely dangerous, such as firefighting, oil refineries, construction workers, police officers and so many more, but life itself can be dangerous if we are not aware of our surroundings. Some such things or places that would seem very mundane could result in tragedy if we

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Episode 242 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Interruptions, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Teamwork, Vigilance /

This is part 2 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 42 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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SAM 241 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Interruptions, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Teamwork, Vigilance /

This is part 1 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 38 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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Episode 240 | Jason Corthell Interview

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Interruptions, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Teamwork, Vigilance /

In this episode, Cypress Creek Lieutenant Jason Corthell shares his close call survival story where he was operating on the second floor of an exterior stairwell at an apartment building fire. The stairwell, not involved in fire at all, unexpectedly collapsed, trapping Lieutenant Corthell and District Chief Sanchez under tons of steel and concrete. A

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Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Communications, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Gasaway Consulting Group, Human Factors, Incompetence, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management /

Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas everyone! With Thanksgiving day in the past, it is officially the Christmas season! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and I have caught the Christmas spirit in a very situational awareness sort of way. Surely you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” -You know –

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Episode 239 | How Could They Be SO Stupid?

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assumptions, Attitude, Biases, Communications, Culture, Denial, Ego, Emotions, Human Behavior, Judgment, Leadership, SAMatters Radio, Teamwork /

  This episode discusses how easy it is for first responders to adopt a judgmental mindset and miss important lessons that can improve situational awareness. Length: 17 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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