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These are articles on the SAMatters blog.

Expectations can Impact Situational Awareness

2 Comments / Accountability, Article, Competency, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress /

Towering Inferno… Backdraft… Ladder 49… Emergency… Adam 12… Dragnet… Rescue Me… Chicago Fire… Hawaii Five O … Love them or hate them, movies and television influence perceptions and create expectations three ways: First, they influence citizen perceptions of emergency service providers and create certain performance expectations. Second, they influence first responders’ perceptions of themselves and […]

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Will Denial Make the Problem Better or Worse?

Leave a Comment / Article, Complacency, Ego, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Safety, Situational awareness /

I received the following feedback to a recent Situational Awareness Newsletter. I thought I’d share it and use it as an introduction to this article. Here’s what he had to say: __________ I forwarded your newsletter to every one of my email contacts. The newsletter was especially appropriate  for some of the people on my mailing list

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Complacency – a barrier to situational awareness

2 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Complacency, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Incompetence, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Tacit Knowledge, Training /

We develop and maintain situational awareness by being perceptive about what is happening around us. To be perceptive, we must pay attention to what is going on in our environment. We can employ all of our senses to help us pay attention – seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. However, if we let our guard

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The SAMatters Online Academy – An interview with Ed Mann – 395

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Article, Attitude, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Workload Management /

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway is interviewed by Ed Mann, Director of Training and Education for Provident Insurance about the SAMatters Online Academy and why this training is so important for first responders.   Ed Mann, Director of Training and Education for Provident Insurance interviewed Dr. Gasaway on the Provident Podcast.  This episode is a

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Interview with Tablet Commander Co-Founder Andrew Bozzo – 394

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Article, Attitude, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Workload Management /

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway talks with Andy Bozzo, co-founder of Tablet Command mobile incident management software. Tablet Command is a mobile incident command and response solution that increases situational awareness, speeds incident response, streamlines incident management and improves firefighter accountability. With Tablet Command, an incident commander can tap and drag responding apparatus onto an

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EMDR Treatment for First Responders: Interview with Dr. Deborah Korn – 393

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Article, Attitude, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Workload Management /

  This episode is provides first responders a look into a treatment option for Post Traumatic Event Brain Injuries called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).  Dr. Deborah Korn, PsyD, an internationally renowned pioneer and expert in EMDR Therapy and author of the book Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR the Proven Trauma Therapy with the

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Burned while searching for a fire victim. The Jeremy Saul Story – 392

Leave a Comment / Article, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Judgment, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Tunnel Vision /

  Captain Jeremy Saul, a Situational Awareness Matters Certified Master Instructor shared a harrowing story about being burned while searching for a three-year old child trapped in a row home fire in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The interview includes a discussion about lessons learned and some of his favorite topics to teach during situational awareness classes. Episode

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Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Equipment, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Pressure, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology /

This interview is with Dr. Dusty Lambert, a firefighter who completed his doctoral degree while researching the impact of acute stress in emergency vehicle crashes. Emergency services provide an invaluable service to communities and cities around the world. Research has shown these professionals encounter significant acute psychological stress throughout their work shifts. Acute stress has

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Active Shooter Part 2 – Advice for Fire and EMS

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance /

  When I was in the police academy and went through Active Shooter training it was designed solely for police officers. There was never a mention of EMS or fire department response and how they could assist in these situations.  It took approximately 8 years into my career until I went to a training that

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Active Shooter Part 1 – Advice for Law Enforcement

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance /

  My students often ask me: “Mr. Moldenhauer, what’s the worst call cops could ever go on?”  My response is always the same, an active shooter call.  I have had my share of terrible calls in my career that will stay with me forever (i.e.  suicides, child deaths, and fatal car accidents just to name

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