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Decision Making

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to decision making.

The Midwest Fire Story – Brett Jensen Interview (Episode 299)

Leave a Comment / Automation, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Equipment, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Mission, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Technology /

This episode is an interview with Midwest Fire Vice President and General Manager Brett Jensen, discussing the Midwest Fire way of doing business. Length: 58 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 […]

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What You Don’t See Can Save You

1 Comment / Article, Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Intuition, Meta Awareness, Neuroscience, Prediction, Safety, Size Up, Tacit Knowledge /

I dedicate a lot of time during my situational awareness programs ensuring that first responders understand how clues and cues serve as the foundation for developing and maintaining good situational awareness. We also spend considerable time making the connection of how strong situational awareness becomes the foundation for good decision making. For the most part,

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Surrounded by Fire: The Roree Payment Story – Part 2 (Episode 298)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Building Construction, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Judgment, Mindfulness, Mission, Near Miss, Optimism, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Technology, understaffing /

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview with Clearview Fire & EMS Chief Roree Payment, sharing the details of a residential dwelling fire near-miss where he was caught in a fireball due to rapidly changing, wind-driven conditions. Length: 51 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If

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Situational Awareness: Think Past, Present & Future

Leave a Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Mental Models, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up /

Flawed situational awareness (SA) is one of the leading contributing factors to first responder near-miss and casualty events. In fact, it is nearly impossible to find a line-of-duty death investigation report that does not implicate flawed SA, or one of the barriers that flaw SA, as contributing to the tragedy. As often as flawed SA

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Surrounded by Fire: The Roree Payment Story – Part 1 (Episode 297)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Building Construction, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Judgment, Mindfulness, Mission, Near Miss, Optimism, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Technology, understaffing /

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Clearview Fire & EMS Chief Roree Payment, sharing the details of a residential dwelling fire near-miss where he was caught in a fireball due to rapidly changing, wind-driven conditions. Length: 47 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If

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Overconfidence – A Dangerous Minefield (Episode 296)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Automatic Action, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Incompetence, Judgment, Leadership, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Optimism, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Tacit Knowledge, Under Confident /

In this episode, we review the Overconfidence chapter of my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 28 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

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Three types of stress

1 Comment / Article, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness /

In this article, we discuss three types of stress: Acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress. First responders can, and often do, experience all three. Stress can impact firefighter situational awareness and, equally concerning, stress can have devastating long-term impacts. As I was writing this article I recalled various times during my thirty years

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The Impact of Stress on Memory and Recall – Part 2 (Episode 295)

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Frustration, Human Factors, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Overload, Overwhelm, Pressure, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Short Term Memory, Stress, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses, Workload Management /

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part presentation where we talk about how stress can impact memory and recall. Length: 34 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

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The Impact of Stress on Memory and Recall – Part 1 (Episode 294)

Leave a Comment / Cognitive Memory, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Expectations, Frustration, Human Factors, Long-Term Memory, Lost Focus, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Overload, Overwhelm, Pressure, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Short Term Memory, Stress, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses, Workload Management /

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part presentation where we talk about how stress can impact memory and recall. Length: 30 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

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Understaffing Impacts Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Stress, Tunneled Senses /

Understaffing can have a big impact on first responder safety. We all know that. But it can also have a huge impact on first responder situational awareness… more than I ever imagined. I have experienced understaffing issues many times throughout my career but I never gave much thought to how my situational awareness was being

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