Attention Management Archives - Page 12 of 18 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Multiple Awarenesses

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

The mission of this website and my personal passion for situational awareness is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job – from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in […]

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Episode 222 | Doug Abernathy Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Error Creep, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

This episode revisits Part 2 of an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief Doug Abernathy discussing his near-miss at the Athletic Club Hotel fire on February 5, 1992 Length: 53 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational

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Interruptions Can Be a Barrier To Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Competency, Decision Making, Experience, Human Factors, Interruptions, Safety / Rich Gasaway

Like many of you, I do my best work when I am not interrupted. Whether it’s someone trying to carry on a conversation, a phone ringing or a text message, an interruption disrupts the train of thought. And when the train of thought is disrupted, situational awareness can be adversely impacted.

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Episode 221 | Doug Abernathy Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Error Creep, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Training, Tunnel Vision, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

This episode revisits Part 1 of an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief Doug Abernathy discussing his near-miss at the Athletic Club Hotel fire on February 5, 1992 Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational

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How Flawed Expectations Can Impact Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Leadership, Prediction, Risk Assessment, Safety, Tacit Knowledge, Training / Rich Gasaway

The development of situational awareness happens on a three-tiered continuum. It begins with perceiving your environment. Then, what is perceived must be understood (and this is not as simple as it may appear). Finally, understanding is used to predict the future. Summarizing, the three-step process: Perception – Understanding – Prediction. This article provides an example

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Episode 220 | John Lightly Interview – Part 2

This episode revisits Part 2 of an interview conducted September 15, 2014 with Captain John Lightly from the Youngstown (Ohio) Fire Department about his near-miss event. Length: 76 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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Episode 219 | John Lightly Interview – Part 1

This episode revisits Part 1 of an interview conducted September 15, 2014 with Captain John Lightly from the Youngstown (Ohio) Fire Department about his near-miss event. Length: 55 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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Episode 217 | Overstaffing

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Attitude, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Frustration, Human Behavior, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Insubordination, Interruptions, Lost Focus, Over Staffing, Personnel location, Pressure, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, understaffing, Weather, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode explores how over staffing can impact situational awareness. Length: 29 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 Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for

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Episode 216 | Task Fixation – A Barrier to Awareness

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Crew Resource Management, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Lost Focus, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Perception, Preoccupation, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

This episode examines how task fixation can impact situational awareness while working in high-risk environments. Length: 30 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview! __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out

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I Woke Up Today With Nothing To Do!

5 Comments / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Automation, Checklists, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Experience, Goals, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Intuition, Mindfulness, Perception, Safety / Rich Gasaway

If you have visited SAMatters before, you know the mission of the site is to help first responders improve situational awareness by “Helping you see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome.” Something happened today that I didn’t see coming and I’d like to share the story with you. Thank you for

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