incident command Archives - Page 21 of 26 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Episode 111 | 19 Ways Communications can Impact Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Auditory exclusion, Biases, Communications, Confusion, Emotions, Information overload, Miscommunications, Perception, Progress Reports, Radios, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Stress, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

In this episode I share 19 ways that communications issues can impact Situational Awareness. Length: 37 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 […]

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Episode 110 | Live Events Q&A

1 Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Building Construction, Cognitive Memory, Expectations, Experience, Gut Feeling, Information overload, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Mindfulness, Overload, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Tacit Knowledge / Rich Gasaway

In this episode I share some of the more commonly asked questions that come up during live Situational Awareness events. Length: 51 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,

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Leadership means… Leading!

2 Comments / Article, Fear, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

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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Episode 109 | The Perfect Storm

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attitude, Bravado, Close Call, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Expectations, Invincible, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mission, Near Miss, Over Confident, Prediction, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Training, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

This episode discusses the fire service “perfect storm” – a combination of unpredictable circumstances that lead to a catastrophic outcome. Length: 39 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

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A Walking PAR Can Improve Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Fatigue, Safety, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines / Rich Gasaway

Personnel Accountability Reports (PARs) are essential to helping commanders develop and maintain situational awareness. A quality PAR dials the commander into every crew’s size, their location and their progress. But the standard PAR has a fundamental flaw that can adversely impact the commander’s situational awareness. Here’s how…

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Episode 108 | Working Command and Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Judgment, Meta Awareness, Mission, Multitasking, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode explores how situational awareness may be impacted when the first arriving officer establishes a “working command.” Length: 32 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

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Multitasking Impacts Situational Awareness

4 Comments / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Multitasking, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Task Saturation, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a live demonstration may be worth ten thousand words. In a recent situational awareness and decision making class, I was explaining to the participants the science behind why humans are such poor multitaskers. Of course, when I do this there is always someone in the class who,

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Episode 107 | Interview with Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Building Construction, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Leadership, Mission, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Staffing, Teamwork, Training, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

In this episode I interview Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr. After serving 30 years with Montgomery County Fire Department, Chief Lohr accepted a position with the Hagerstown Fire Department – a department much smaller than his previous department and with far fewer resources. We discuss the safety and the improvements

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Expectations are Important to Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Mental Models, Situational awareness, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Situational Awareness is developed, maintained and erodes on three levels. The highest level of situational awareness is developed by being able to make realistic and accurate projections of the future events. The projections are sometimes called “mental models.” Projecting the future facilitates being able to see bad things coming… in time to change the outcome. If

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Episode 106 | Sensory conflict can impact situational awareness

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Confusion, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Radios, SAMatters Radio, Sensory Conflict, Size Up / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we will discuss what can happen when a person is experiencing sensory conflict and how this neurological phenomenon can impact 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

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