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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 1

I am blessed. My work allows me to uncover many lessons from human behavior and cognitive neuroscience research that benefit the situational awareness of first responders. My 30+ years in fire and EMS positions me well to understand how those lessons can improve our safety. It has truly become my passion and my calling. [This […]

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We Must Stop The Insanity: Part 1

The training practices used in many communities are setting up emergency response personnel for failure and flawed situational awareness. The sad part is most don’t even realize they’re doing it. When casualties occur, so do investigations. The investigations result in recommendations for how to prevent future casualty events. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and

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The Role of Emotions in Decision Making

It is a widely held belief that the best decisions are made without the interference of emotions. Economists and statisticians alike stand fast to this belief – the best decisions are made using pure logic. Facts and formulas lead to the most rational decisions. But do they?[tweet this] Imagine for a moment if the emotional

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The Comfortable Routine of Complacency

We all know we have habits. Some of them are good habits. And some of them are…well… not so good. The less often talked about cousin of a habit is a routine. Habits and routines can impact situational awareness in both good and bad ways. [tweet this] But where do habits and routines come from?

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Leadership means… Leading!

On November 24, 2011 I wrote an article here on Situational Awareness Matters titled Defensive Decision Making. In that article I made the following statement: Coincidentally, one of the most sickening signs of low self-esteem, over inflated ego and over confidence are displayed on the “NO FEAR” decals some firefighters wear on their helmets. Personally,

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The Routine Call

During a recent situational awareness program a participant was discussing something that went wrong at a routine call. As the story went, the crew had been to this address numerous times for the same (or similar) problem. Each time, the issue was resolved quickly and without incident. The call was, by his words, routine.  So,

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Episode 84 | Interview County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service Captain Jason Nesbitt and crew

        This episode interviews County of Grande Prairie C Platoon Captain Jason Nesbitt and his on-duty crew at the County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service in Clairmont, Alberta.   Length: 69 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

Episode 84 | Interview County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service Captain Jason Nesbitt and crew Read More »

Episode 79 | The overconfident incompetent

       This episode discusses the process for competency development and introduces the Dunning-Kruger Effect, a cognitive bias whereby unskilled people suffer from the illusion of having superior skills and knowledge.   Length: 21 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and

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