Rich Gasaway

Richard B. Gasaway served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic and fire chief. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree while studying how individuals, teams and organizations develop and maintain situational awareness and make decisions in high stress, high consequence, time compressed environments. Dr. Gasaway is widely considered to be one of the nation's leading authorities on first responder situational awareness and decision making. His material has been featured and referenced in more than 400 book chapters, research projects, journal articles, podcasts, webinars and videos. His research and passion to improve workplace safety through improved situational awareness is unrivaled. Dr. Gasaway's leadership and safety programs have been presented to more than 42,000 first responders, emergency managers, medical providers, military personnel, aviation employees, industrial workers and business leaders throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Understanding Stress – Part 2: Types of stress

Welcome to Part 2 of my series on stress. The goal of this segment is to discuss three types of stress: Acute stress, episodic acute stress and chronic stress. Anyone on an emergency scene can, and often do, experience all three. Stress can impact  situational awareness and, equally concerning, stress can have devastating long-term impacts. […]

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Top Ten Near-Miss Interviews (SAM 248)

In this episode, I recap the events surrounding our most downloaded near-miss interviews in the history of the show. Length: 33 minutes     Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check

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Understanding Stress – Part 1: The Physical, Chemical and Emotional Impact

I field a lot of questions about stress during my programs. I think this is, in part, because of how pervasive stress is in the lives of anyone involved in an emergency situation and the role that stress plays in situational awareness and decision making. So I thought I’d write an article about stress. Well,

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Mental Rehearsal (Episode 247)

In this episode, we discuss how workers can improve their safety by using mental rehearsals. Length: 21 minutes     Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ 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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2018 Year in Review

As 2018 comes to a close, I pause to reflect on how thankful I am for the opportunity to share the situational awareness message with first responders, business leaders, industrial workers, medical providers, military personnel, oil refinery operators, school bus drivers and more. I am thankful for the hosts who put forth the effort to

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Situational Awareness Matters!

Resilient Problem Solvers

Perhaps you’re going to think I’ve been out in the sun too long when you read this proclamation: I want you to make more mistakes! What? It’s true, I do. But before you stop reading this article out of distain for such an absurd statement, please gift me just five minutes of your time to

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Pre-Arrival Lens, Task Fixation, Mission Myopia and Fear (Episode 246)

In this episode, you get to sit in on a segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway discusses four situational awareness barriers. Length: 33 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to

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Peer Pressure Can Impact Situational Awareness

The social interaction between coworkers may not be on your mind as you think about  situational awareness. But the fact is we are all influenced by our relationships with others. We have an inherent internal desire to be well-liked and respected. We also have a very strong internal drive to avoid embarrassment. These traits of

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How We Understand (Episode 245)

In this episode, you get to sit in on a short segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway explains the second component in the situational awareness process – how your brain develops understanding. Length: 47 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in

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Seven Situational Awareness Thieves

Recently I had a video clip shared with me of a residential dwelling fire. The video captures a flashover event. It was reported to me that firefighters were operating inside the structure when it occurred. As I watched the video progress, it was apparent interior conditions were getting worse, the color of the smoke was

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