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.

A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 5

This is the final segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series. In this article I want to share my personal perspectives on the catastrophic outcomes that result when the ingredients of the recipe come together. [tweet this] You may recall in the first segment I shared with you that I see this recipe being used over and […]

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Episode 141 | Confabulation

In this episode, we explore how the brain confabulates – or makes up its own reality. In the absence of facts, the brain can start to invent or create its own reality.  This can be dangerous on emergency scenes. Length: 22 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are

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Flawed Situational Awareness: A stealth killer – Live Training

Flawed Situational Awareness: A stealth killer Program Length: 4-8 hours Appropriate for: First Responders (Fire, Police, EMS) Supervisors Trainers Training Program Managers Safety Professionals Program Description This program shares the powerful findings of Dr. Gasaway’s extensive research on issues related to first responder decision making and flawed situational awareness.  In his review of hundreds of near-miss

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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 4

In  this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the fourth step of the recipe – complacency – and more specifically letting your safety guard down and how it can result in failure to learn, implement and practice nationally accepted best practices. As complacency sets in, an organization can lose its inertia and its

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Episode 140 | Speaking up

    In this episode, I interview my son, Cameron Gasaway, a firefighter with the Madison, Wisconsin Fire Department, about why it is so hard to speak up when you see something that’s going wrong. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of

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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 3

In  this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the third step of the recipe – confidence and more specifically how an over-inflated sense of confidence can erode firefighter situational awareness.  Confidence is the sense of assurance that results from the performance of duties believed to be high quality. [tweet this] The problem is confidence

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Episode 139 | Building expert knowledge

  In this episode, we discuss ideas for how to build expert knowledge in first responders, especially during a time when the number of structure fires is declining. Length: 22 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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A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 2

In this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the second step of the recipe – consequence. [tweet this] Rather, the lack of consequence and the impact this may have on firefighter situational awareness. One of the outcomes you might expect when there is incompetent behavior is an injury – a consequence.

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Episode 138 | Nine considerations when evaluating incident command software.

  In this episode, we discuss 9 things you should consider when evaluating your purchase of incident command software. 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 a higher level, check out the Situational Awareness Matters

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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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