Attention Management Archives - Page 6 of 18 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Trapped Under A Ceiling Collapse. The Ron Hunter Story (Episode 291)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Gut Feeling, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission Myopia, Over Confident, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I interview Spartanburg Fire Lieutenant, Ron Hunter, as he recounts the mayday and RIT activation after being trapped under a collapsed ceiling at an apartment building fire. Length: 71 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness […]

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19 Ways Communications Barriers Can Impact Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

If you are a student of near-miss and casualty reports then you know, without a doubt, that flawed communications are a major contributing factor when things go wrong and flawed communications are often a factor when the quality of situational awareness erodes. In fact, flawed communication was the second most frequently cited barrier to flawed

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Preview of the Task Fixation Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 289)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Communications, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Pre Arrival Lens, Radios, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Technology, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Task Fixation from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 33 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

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Preview of the Auditory Exclusion Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 288)

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Auditory Exclusion from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 27 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

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The Two Headed Incident Commander

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

A subscriber to the Situational Awareness Matters newsletter sent me a photograph of an emergency incident scene that caused me to reflect on a very important situational awareness lesson. This lesson, unfortunately, is often overlooked and is often implicated as a contributing factor to near-miss and casualty events. Let’s spend a little time examining workload

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Thirty Seconds from Death – The Randy Hanifen Story (Episode 287)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Excited, Experience, Goals, Judgment, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, understaffing, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, West Chester Captain Randy Hanifen shared the details of a near-miss inside a residential dwelling fire where, if circumstances were just slightly different, he might have been killed in a flashover. Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your

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A Near-Miss While Responding – The Brian Collins Story (Episode 286)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Complacency, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Technology, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Brentwood Battalion Chief Brian Collins shares a story about how he almost died when the door on the apparatus he was riding in unexpectedly opened while responding to a call. Length: 40 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding

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Task Saturation Impacts Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Checklists, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Stress, Task Saturation, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

There’s no doubt that in dynamically changing, high-risk, high-consequence environments someone could be called upon to perform many varied tasks, some at the same time. When staffing levels are low, the likelihood of this situation increases significantly. The problem this creates is the brain does not perform well when task saturated, especially in stressful situations.

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Drone Responders Interview with Charles Werner (Episode 281)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Automation, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Information overload, Judgment, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Fire Chief (ret.) Charles Werner discusses how drone technology can be used to enhance first responder situational awareness and improve access to critical decision making information. Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and

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Selective Listening Can Be A Barrier To Situational Awareness

3 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Distractions and Interruptions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Selective Listening / Rich Gasaway

Because first responders frequently operate in environments where there are multiple auditory inputs (e.g., radio traffic, face-to-face communications, ambient sounds, etc.) they are often forced to prioritize what they listen to (or don’t listen to). This can cause issues with situational awareness.

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