situational awareness training Archives - Page 17 of 19

Episode 165 | Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Expectations, Habits, Human Factors, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Tacit Knowledge, Training / Rich Gasaway

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” This is Part 1 of a 5-part series that explores situational awareness insanity. Length: 26 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk […]

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A situational awareness paradigm shift

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Saturation, Tunneled Senses, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Paradigm: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them . Recent research conducted by Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have revealed a flaw in a long standing paradigm about fire attack. As this blog does not

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Episode 164 | Predicting the future

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Decision Making, Expectations, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio / Rich Gasaway

One of the most challenging parts of situational awareness development is making an accurate prediction about what is going to happen in the future. This is one of the most often overlooked components of situational awareness development and the outcome can be catastrophic. Length: 30 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________

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Episode 163 | Lynchburg FD House Fire Near Miss – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Gut Feeling, Judgment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Captain Bob Mayes, Captain John Ripley, and Deputy Chief Greg Wormser were on the first-alarm assignment to a report of a residential dwelling fire. As the incident progressed conditions changed which resulted in a significant near-miss event. This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Length: 47 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen

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Episode 162 | Lynchburg FD House Fire Near Miss – Part 1

Captain Bob Mayes, Captain John Ripley and Deputy Chief Greg Wormser were on the first-alarm assignment to a report of a residential dwelling fire. As the incident progressed, conditions changed, which resulted in a significant near-miss event. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen

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Episode 161 | Soldier Township Tornado Near Miss

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Gut Feeling, Judgment, Personnel location, Risk, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

The Soldier Township Fire Department responded to a large brush fire. The incident was unexpectedly interrupted by a tornado that caused crews to scramble for cover. Length: 50 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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No SOPs = No Game Plan

2 Comments / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness / Rich Gasaway

I have many opportunities to talk with first responders about the importance of having Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs). These documents are essential to the safety of responders because they set the standard for training and for incident operations. [clickandtweet handle=”RichGasaway” hashtag=”#situationalawareness” related=”samatters” layout=”” position=””]Let’s look at why SOPs or

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Risk Versus Reward

7 Comments / Article, Decision Making, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

At 2:04 AM, the fire department was dispatched for a fire in a commercial building. Upon arrival, the first engine reports a working fire and commences with the interior fire attack. Upon entry, the engine crew reports high heat conditions and low visibility, but they pressed onward. Situational awareness is marginal. Soon the second engine and

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 5

Leave a Comment / Article, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

This is going to be, admittedly, an uncomfortable read for some. But, nonetheless it is a conversation we need to have. I need to discuss the “F” word. No, not THAT “F” word. The “F” word that is more dreaded than the F-bomb – Fear. Many first responders enjoy discussing fear as much as they

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 4

Leave a Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

This article continues the series focusing on the seemingly-insane things that some first responders do while operating in high-stress, high-consequence environments. Oftentimes, the individuals trying to make sense of these behaviors are quick to judge those on the sharp of the decision by saying things like: “They weren’t paying attention?” or “How could they

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