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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 5: The Stubborn

8 Comments / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to the fifth of the nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness and, subsequently, the safety of your team. In this article I am going to address the stubborn team member. This individual can be described as one set in their ways, closed minded and perhaps even defiant. Their narrowed view […]

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SAM 229 | Jonathan Hancock Interview

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Auditory exclusion, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Frustration, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Perception Of Reality, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Size Up, Staffing, Task Fixation, Teamwork, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

Firefighter Jonathan Hancock found himself alone, unexpectedly, in the middle of a residential dwelling fire. This is his story about how it happened and his lessons learned. Length: 46 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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Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 4 – The Superior

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Mental Models, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Dangerous Mindsets series. Previously I talked about the dangerous mindsets of the Starter, the Subordinate and the Specialist. This article addresses the Superior or, more appropriately, the Superior with personal issues and how that can impact situational awareness and team safety. It would be rare for a supervisor

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Episode 228 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Staffing, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part two of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

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Episode 227 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Staffing, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. Length: 72 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 2: The Subordinate

3 Comments / Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Being a subordinate is an inherently essential skill for first responders. Borrowing a line from the movie A Few Good Men “We follow orders or people die.” This is true. However, consistent with the outcome of the movie, sometimes BECAUSE we follow orders people die. An example of this would be when a decision maker

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 1: The Starter

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

One of the human factors influencing situational awareness is the mindset of the first responder. Mindset is based on beliefs, biases and self-perception. Mindset may also be influenced by organizational culture and peer pressure. In this series I am going to explore nine potentially dangerous mindsets and share how they can impact emergency scene safety.

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Episode 225 | Chris Baker Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fatigue, Fear, Gut Feeling, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Overwhelm, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview with firefighter Chris Baker, sharing a near-miss event at a Chevron Richmond Refinery in California. Disclaimer: The comments shared during this interview are of the individual and do not represent the views of any company, employer or agency. Length: 46 minutes Click the YouTube icon to

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Episode 224 | Chris Baker Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Fatigue, Fear, Gut Feeling, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Overwhelm, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with firefighter Chris Baker, sharing a near-miss event at a Chevron Richmond Refinery in California. Disclaimer: The comments shared during this interview are of the individual and do not represent the views of any company, employer or agency. Length: 44 minutes Click the YouTube icon to

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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 / Rich Gasaway

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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