public safety Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Situational Awareness: Catastrophically Important to First Responder Safety

Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

This video serves as an example of the importance of situational awareness. Please do not judge this department, the responders, or the commander. Rather, seek to learn and understand WHY… the things they were doing at the moment in time that things went bad… made sense to them. Those attending the Mental Management of Emergencies […]

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Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Communications, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Gasaway Consulting Group, Human Factors, Incompetence, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas everyone! With Thanksgiving day in the past, it is officially the Christmas season! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and I have caught the Christmas spirit in a very situational awareness sort of way. Surely you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” -You know –

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 7: The Superman/Superwoman

Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to installment seven of the Nine Dangerous Mindsets series. While these mindsets may have many dangerous implications, my focus is to bring light to how they can impact situational awareness and team safety. I have been receiving some amazing feedback so far on this series. Readers are sharing that I have struck a chord,

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 6: The Silent

1 Comment / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to part six of this nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness. I appreciate all of the very kind feedback I have been receiving on this series on Facebook, Twitter and by email. Your positive feedback energizes me so much. Thank you. In this segment we’re going to discuss the Silent member.

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 5: The Stubborn

8 Comments / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to the fifth of the nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness and, subsequently, the safety of your team. In this article I am going to address the stubborn team member. This individual can be described as one set in their ways, closed minded and perhaps even defiant. Their narrowed view

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 4 – The Superior

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Mental Models, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Dangerous Mindsets series. Previously I talked about the dangerous mindsets of the Starter, the Subordinate and the Specialist. This article addresses the Superior or, more appropriately, the Superior with personal issues and how that can impact situational awareness and team safety. It would be rare for a supervisor

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Duty to Die Syndrome

8 Comments / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Teamwork, Training / Rich Gasaway

I recently sent out a message across my social media networks (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) about bravado being a barrier to situational awareness. The message, in case you missed it, read: Bravado: The purposeful ignorance of critical signs of danger coupled with a sense of invincibility. A barrier to situational awareness. First responders sometimes confuse

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Radio Traffic Can Improve or Destroy Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Training, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

When it comes to first responder radio traffic I am reminded of the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You may recall that in the story Goldilocks samples three bowls of porridge. One is too hot. One is too cold. And the third is just right. This lesson applies directly to first responder situational

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Tacit knowledge and situational awareness

1 Comment / Attention Management, Competency, Decision Making, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Repetition, Safety, Situational awareness, Tacit Knowledge / Rich Gasaway

While conducting research on how decisions are made during high consequence events I came across a term I’d never heard before – “tacit knowledge.” Once I learned what it was it quickly became evident that I possessed it… and I didn’t know it. In fact, every first responder who has developed expert-level knowledge and skills

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