These are first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to distractions and interruptions.
This episode is part two of a three-part interview with Chesterfield County Battalion Chief Joy Knicely and Captain Rick Grassel. Length: 58 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview! __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a […]
Episode 199 | Chesterfield County Interview – Part 2 Read More »
This episode is part one of a three-part interview with Chesterfield County Battalion Chief Joy Knicely and Captain Rick Grassel. Length: 46 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview! __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a
Episode 198 | Chesterfield County Interview – Part 1 Read More »
In a recent Mental Management of Emergencies program, we were talking about multitasking. During the discussion I explained what happens when a person attempts to multitask the act of paying of attention – which is neurologically impossible by the way. This turned the discussion to a sobriety test administered by police officers called the Divided
Divided Attention Test Read More »
Think you’re good at multitasking? If so, you are just fooling yourself. Or, perhaps more aptly stated, your brain is fooling you. Multitasking is simply a way for us to be tricked into doing a whole bunch of things, poorly, all at the same time. When it comes to managing attention, the human brain cannot
The Myth of Multitasking and Situational Awareness Read More »
At the start of the Flawed Situational Awareness program I share a story about my early years as a company officer and subsequently as a command-level officer. Even in those days (more than 30 years ago), I held a deep desire to learn from failure and catastrophe. I read every near-miss and casualty report I
Come down off the high perch of judgment Read More »
It is possible that while you are attempting to pay attention to something, you can be drawn off your task by distractions or interruptions to your workload. A distraction is something that pulls your attention away by accident (like a reflex look in the direction of a loud noise). An interruption is something that pulls
This episode explores the impact that tunnel vision can have on the development of situational awareness. Length: 31 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ 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
Episode 178 | Explaining Tunnel Vision Read More »
There are over 100 cognitive biases that can impact situational awareness, and subsequently, decision making. Many of these biases are discussed during the Mental Management of Emergencies and Flawed Situational Awareness programs because it is important for responders to understand that we may possess a bias without knowing it and without knowing the impact of
Anchoring Bias as a Barrier to Situational Awareness Read More »
Developing and maintaining situational awareness at an emergency scene can be a very challenging task. Scenes are often stressful, complex, time-compressed, and complicated with rapidly-changing conditions. Responders have lots of information to process and many tasks to perform. And, sadly, situational awareness isn’t always the forefront on their minds. Under such conditions, meta awareness
As I talk with first responders in classes about the impact of distractions and interruptions on situational awareness, I find myself often being asked: “What’s the difference?” While there are distinctly different causes for distractions and interruptions, the outcome is often very similar…a reduction in situational awareness and the potential for a catastrophic outcome. [tweet
Distractions and Interruptions…What’s the Difference? Read More »
