Communications Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Ignoring the Signs of Danger

7 Comments / Accountability, Article, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

A lesson on situational awareness: The tones drop for a reported residential fire. On the way to the call, dispatch reports multiple calls, confirming a working fire. On arrival the crew sees fire blowing out the B-C corner of the single story, detached residential dwelling. The resident is standing in the front yard. A quick […]

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How Could They Be So Stupid?

8 Comments / Anger, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Incompetence, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Training / Rich Gasaway

Recently I was having a conversation with a fire commander who shared the following experience. He stopped by one of the stations for a visit and came upon a group of firefighters huddled around a computer screen watching videos. Relax. This is not a lecture on watching inappropriate videos on fire department computers. In fact,

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Mayday Radio Channel

11 Comments / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training / Rich Gasaway

I recently was contacted by a fire officer asking whether their mayday procedure should include a provision for a dedicated mayday channel for the distressed crew to transmit their post-mayday traffic on. This is a question I’ve been asked often enough that I want to dedicate an article to the topic of mayday communications procedures.

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Twelve Ways to Improve Situational Awareness (SAM 244)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attitude, Auditory exclusion, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Support, Communications, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Hyper Vigilance, Information overload, Interruptions, Line of Duty Death, Long-Term Memory, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Overload, Radios, Repetition, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Short Term Memory, Size Up, Staffing, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Vigilance, Workload Management, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, a special guest presents twelve ways to improve situational awareness while working in high-risk, high consequence environments. Length: 25 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,

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Forging Your Team – The Johnny Torgeson Story – 408

1 Comment / Attention Management, Attitude, Benchmarks, Communications, Competency, Culture, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Goals, Judgment, Leadership, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Optimism, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

The fire service is struggling with recruiting and retention. It’s also challenged by a mental health crisis and a growing apathy within the profession. The good news is, we have the power to fix it. Working in a team environment provides job satisfaction, psychological safety, and a feeling of community. Fire service leaders have

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The Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance – 406

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Attitude, Bravado, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Emotions, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Jeff Dill about the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and their work to reduce firefighter suicides. Description In 2010, Jeff Dill founded Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA). And since 2021, Jeff has served full time as the Behavioral Health Administrator for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue

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The Minnesota Hometown Heroes Assistance Program – 405

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attitude, Bravado, Close Call, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Ego, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Illness, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Optimism, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Understanding, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with George Esbensen, President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE) about the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program. During his 32 years in the fire service, George Esbensen served in many roles, from firefighter to chief. Today, he volunteers as Board President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE),

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The NIOSH 5 and Leadership – The Jeff Snider Interview – 403

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Benchmarks, Biases, Bravado, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Incompetence, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Multitasking, Near Miss, Over Confident, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Pressure, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Technology, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Jeff Snider about the NIOSH 5 – or the five most often cited contributing factors in Line of Duty death investigations and lessons for leader Jeff Snider has served with the Canadian military as a Special Forces Operator (3 CDO), a Correctional Officer at a maximum-security facility,

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Conducting a LODD After Action Review: Part 2 – 402

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Automatic Action, Biases, Building Construction, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Comprehension, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Optimism, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Prediction, Pressure, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview where Dr. Gasaway talks with retired Philadelphia Deputy Chief Vince Mulray and Battalion Chief Bobby Kennedy about conducting a Line-of-Duty After Action Review following the death of Lieutenant Matthew LeTourneau on January 6, 2018. After Action Review-Line of Duty Death On January 06, 2018, Lt.

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Conducting a LODD After Action Review: Part 1 – 401

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview where Dr. Gasaway talks with retired Philadelphia Deputy Chief Vince Mulray and Battalion Chief Bobby Kennedy about conducting a Line-of-Duty After Action Review following the death of Lieutenant Matthew LeTourneau on January 6, 2018. After Action Review-Line of Duty Death On January 06, 2018,

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