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 14: The need for realistic training

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Building Construction, Competency, Culture, Decision Making, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Mental Models, Personal Protective Equipment, Repetition, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Simulation, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Tacit Knowledge, Teamwork, Training /

Episode 14: Interview with Dave Casey, Director of Louisiana State Fire & Emergency Training Institute on the need for realistic training. Length: 57 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 […]

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Episode 13 – Training for Failure

Leave a Comment / Decision Making, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Training /

  In the feature segment, we’ll talk about training for failure, how it happens and I’ll offer some advice on how to overcome it. I’ll also include some discussion questions you can have among your members about training and whether there may be opportunities for improvement. And we’ll share a near-miss report where a crew

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Radio Communications is Essential to Situational Awareness

Communications, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Training /

I was invited to be an observer at a regional police tactical training exercise. The program was a multi-day event, starting with some classroom training and culminating in a series of simulations using mock weapons, flash-bangs and actors. The one thing that readily stood out to me was the tactical teams were not using radios

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house fire

The irrational obsession with loss

Leave a Comment / Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress /

There is a growing body of research revealing that many human’s have an irrational obsession with loss. Or, perhaps more accurately, an irrational obsession with AVOIDING loss. This phenomenon is something I have seen played out in my evaluation of many casualty incidents. Ironically, the human trait to avoid loss is the same trait that

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Situational Awareness Tour Stop at FDIC

Leave a Comment / Firefighter Situational Awareness, Gasaway Consulting Group, Safety, Situational awareness /

Thanks to everyone who got connected with me at the 2014 Fire Department Instructor’s Conference in Indianapolis last week. The conference and all the programs were amazing (as always). I am grateful to Bobby Halton, Diane Rothschild, Cindy Huse, Tommy Grigg, Marla Patterson and the entire Fire Engineering/PennWell team for the opportunity to contribute. The

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SAFER Book Testimonial

Leave a Comment / Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Gasaway Consulting Group, Safety, Situational awareness /

Thank you to Chris Peak for sharing the following review of Situational Awareness for Emergency Response book. Dear Dr. (Chief) Gasaway, I am not an expert in book reviews or any “science”. That is something I think should be mentioned. I am a Fire Fighter and Emergency responder second to a husband and a father.

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