Communications Archives - Page 8 of 26 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Trapped Under a Roof Collapse. The Mike Beutler Story – Part 1 (Episode 292)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Building Construction, Close Call, Command Presence, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Experience, Judgment, Mayday, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Radios, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Tunnel Vision / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Fire Chief Mike Beutler as he shares the details of an incident where he was trapped under a roof collapse while working at a commercial building fire. Length: 32 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are […]

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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 / 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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Preview of the AskRail® App (Episode 290)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Automation, Benchmarks, Checklists, Command Support, Communications, Decision Making, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Mission, Personnel location, Radios, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Teamwork, Technology, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we interview Retired Fire Chief Charles Warner as he explains the features and benefits of the free AskRail® mobile app. Length: 36 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

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19 Ways Communications Barriers Can Impact Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

If you are a student of near-miss and casualty reports then you know, without a doubt, that flawed communications are a major contributing factor when things go wrong and flawed communications are often a factor when the quality of situational awareness erodes. In fact, flawed communication was the second most frequently cited barrier to flawed

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Preview of the Task Fixation Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 289)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Communications, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Pre Arrival Lens, Radios, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Technology, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Task Fixation from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. 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 a higher

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Preview of the Auditory Exclusion Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 288)

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Auditory Exclusion from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 27 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

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The Two Headed Incident Commander

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

A subscriber to the Situational Awareness Matters newsletter sent me a photograph of an emergency incident scene that caused me to reflect on a very important situational awareness lesson. This lesson, unfortunately, is often overlooked and is often implicated as a contributing factor to near-miss and casualty events. Let’s spend a little time examining workload

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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 / 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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Coffee Talk with Carl Potter from The Safety Institute (Episode 285)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Benchmarks, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Technology, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I am interviewed on the Coffee Talk Show with Carl Potter, founder of The Safety Institute. The Safety Institute is a resource for organizations that want to create workplaces where it’s difficult to get hurt. Length: 68 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you

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Using the Simulation Environment to Improve Situational Awareness

10 Comments / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Information overload, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Safety, Simulation, Situational awareness, Stress, Technology, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Many first responder training programs use simulation in the development of decision-making competencies. Simulation exercises help develop skills in setting strategy and tactics, in applying policies and procedures and in developing critical thinking skills. How can simulations be used in the development of situational awareness skills? The answer lies, in part, in understanding what situational

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