Firefighter Situational Awareness Archives - Page 4 of 24

Unmanned and Remote Emergency Services – The Ron Warren Interview – 391

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Automation, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Information overload, Leadership, Mindfulness, Mission, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Technology, Training, Weather, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

While presenting a situational awareness program for the Fireman’s Association of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, one of the participants was Ron Warren. Ron is the founder and Department Chief of North Central PA Unmanned Emergency Services. He is a full-time state law enforcement officer and a veteran of the US Army, where he served two combat […]

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Complacency: A Lesson Worth Sharing – The Eric Wappel Story – 390

Leave a Comment / Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Biases, Bravado, Communications, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Ego, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Mission, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Teamwork, Training / Rich Gasaway

Captain Eric Wappel shares a tale of complacency and how he faced it head-on with his department. On January 3, 2022, the North Judson – Wayne Township Fire Department was dispatched for the second time to the same residence for a “furnace smoking.” Captain Eric Wappel wasn’t available for the first response, but

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The Violence Project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. An interview with Dr. James Densley – 389

This episode is an interview is with Dr. James Densley, discussing his book: The Violence Project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University, part of the Minnesota State system. He is also co-founder of The Violence Project Research Center, best

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Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Equipment, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Pressure, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology / Rich Gasaway

This interview is with Dr. Dusty Lambert, a firefighter who completed his doctoral degree while researching the impact of acute stress in emergency vehicle crashes. Emergency services provide an invaluable service to communities and cities around the world. Research has shown these professionals encounter significant acute psychological stress throughout their work shifts. Acute stress has

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Hands-Free Driving Laws are a Bad Idea

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Cognitive Memory, Confusion, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Perception, Preoccupation, Risk, Safety, Selective Listening, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Before you get too upset and refuse to read this article, I’ll ask you to give me just two minutes to explain the situational awareness lesson behind this statement. The first premise is: We must acknowledge (and accept) that it is easy for drivers to get distracted and have their situational awareness impacted while talking

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What first responders need to know about explosives: The Jarred Alden Interview. Part 1 – SAM 381

1 Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Close Call, Communications, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Near Miss, Perception, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Teamwork, Training, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview Akron (OH) Fire Lieutenant Jarred Alden shares what we need to know about homemade explosive devices, blast effect, treating blast injury victims, and more. Lieutenant Alden is a paramedic and operations officer for the Akron (OH) Fire Department. He has 17+ years of experience as a

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How Expectations Influence Situational Awareness – SAM 370

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Judgment, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Tacit Knowledge / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we discuss how the role expectations play in helping developing situational awareness and influencing decision making. Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In neuroscience, this is called projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or

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Complacency – SAM 369

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attitude, Bravado, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Ego, Error Creep, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Invincible, Judgment, Leadership, Mind Drift, Mindfulness, Mission, Mission Myopia, Neuroscience, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Task Fixation, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we preview the complacency chapter from the book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Complacency is a dangerous affliction and a very challenging barrier to situational awareness for workers in high-risk environments. When a worker becomes complacent they let their guard down. What does that mean? It’s a cliché

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Distractions and Interruptions – SAM 368

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Checklists, Decision Making, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Expectations, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Interruptions, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Motion Induced Blindness, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Task Fixation, Technology, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we preview the distractions and interruptions chapter from the book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Along a worker’s journey toward envisioning, developing, and implementing their plan to guide their (hopefully) successful outcome, they are likely to encounter two situational awareness barriers that can quickly derail their focus. Distractions

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Short-Term Memory – SAM 367

Leave a Comment / Checklists, Confusion, Decision Making, Defiance, Expectations, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Judgment, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Overwhelm, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Short Term Memory, Simulation, Situational awareness, Size Up, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Vigilance, Workload Management, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we preview the short-term memory chapter from the book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Short-term memory can create a formidable challenge to situational awareness. Long-term memory is huge, some might argue it’s limitless. Short-term memory, not so much. The capacity of the average person’s short-term memory is about

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