These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to human factors.
I would like to share the results of a series of informal polls I have been conducting over a several year period. I conducted these surveys during my Firefighter Safety: Mistakes & Best Practices programs. Roughly 7,000 first responders have participated. There is nothing scientific about this survey or the results. It was merely […]
Giving L.I.P. to R.I.T. Read More »
I recently was contacted by a fire officer asking whether their mayday procedure should include a provision for a dedicated mayday channel for the distressed crew to transmit their post-mayday traffic on. This is a question I’ve been asked often enough that I want to dedicate an article to the topic of mayday communications procedures.
Mayday Radio Channel Read More »
This episode shares observations and lessons learned from the 2018 International Fire Department Instructors Conference. Length: 64 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 210 | Observations and lessons from FDIC Read More »
You develop situational awareness by using your senses to capture information (Level 1 situational awareness). Those clues and cues are then processed into understanding (Level 2 situational awareness). Once you understand what is happening, you can then make predictions of future events (Level 3 situational awareness). This article focuses on the third level of situational
Flawed Expectations of Personnel Can Impact Situational Awareness Read More »
This episode examines how selective listening can impact situational awareness. Length: 27 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 Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for
Episode 207 | Selective Listening Read More »
If I were to tell you that on an emergency scene it is possible for you to use X-Ray vision, you’d probably think I’ve been watching too many Superman movies. But it is possible for you to look right through a solid object on an emergency scene and see what’s beyond it. Seriously! Read on…
Imagination Can Influence Situational Awareness Read More »
Primum non nocere is the Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm.” This is a commonly taught principle in healthcare. In fact, the Hippocratic Oath, taken by doctors, promises they will abstain from doing harm to their patients. The premise is it may be better to NOT do something or to do nothing at
First, Do No Harm! Read More »
When we are operating under conditions of stress and consequence, coupled with changing conditions and time compression, we can feel a sense of urgency and this can cause us to want to take a shortcut from safety best practices. Length: 27 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen __________________________________________________ If you
Episode 204 | Assumptions Read More »
When we are operating under conditions of stress and consequence, coupled with changing conditions and time compression, we can feel a sense of urgency and this can cause us to want to take a shortcut from safety best practices. Length: 29 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen __________________________________________________
Episode 203 | Normalization of Deviance Read More »
The episode explores how relationship bias can impact situational awareness. Length: 29 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen
Episode 202 | Relationship Bias Read More »
