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.

Episode 137 | Radio Traffic and Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Auditory exclusion, Communications, Confusion, Human Factors, Miscommunications, Overload, Radios, Repetition, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Tunneled Senses /

In this episode, we discuss how situational awareness can be improved or impacted by radio traffic. Length: 30 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 Online Academy. CLICK […]

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Mental Management of Emergencies – Live Training

Live Events /

The Mental Management of Emergencies: Improving first responder situational awareness and decision making under stress. Format: Interactive Seminar Length: 2 days Since the inception of the National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System in 2005, the leading contributing factors to near-miss events are NOT strategy, tactics, equipment, procedures or training. The leading contributing factors are flawed situational

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Two Key Ways to Improve Learning and Recall

6 Comments / Article, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Training /

Is there a role for humor while training first responders on critical, life-saving, skills?[tweet this] The flight attendant begins dolling out the obligatory, in fact, federally mandated, pre-flight safety instructions. If you’re a frequent flyer, your situational awareness is probably pretty low. You know the routine and it’s boring. If you’re an infrequent flyer, the

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Episode 136 | Online Academy Q&A

Leave a Comment / Firefighter Situational Awareness, Neuroscience, Questions & Answers, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Training /

This special episode is dedicated to answering questions about the Situational Awareness Matters Online Academy. Length: 24 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 Online Academy. CLICK HERE for

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Episode 135 | Meta-awareness

Leave a Comment / SAMatters Radio /

    In this episode, we discuss the importance of meta-awareness as a technique to help improve first responder safety.   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 the

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Episode 134 | Assessing resources

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Fear, Goals, Mayday and RIT, Mission, Pressure, Risk Assessment, SAMatters Radio, Stress, Teamwork, understaffing /

  In this episode, we discuss the importance of setting operational strategy based on available resources and the impact of understaffing on situational awareness. Length: 25 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

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Episode 133 | The Devil’s Advocate

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Confusion, Decision Making, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Pressure, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Short Term Memory, Stress, Task Saturation, Workload Management /

In this episode, we discuss the role of the devil’s advocate on emergency scenes and how the advocate can help when there is a flawed perception of reality. Length: 27 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making

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