Human Behavior

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

Interview with Captain Alex Charoni on Near-miss reporting evaluations (Episode 280)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Close Call, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Line of Duty Death, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training /

  In this episode, South King County Fire & Rescue Captain Alex Charoni discusses his passion for determining the root cause of near-miss events and the approach his department is taking to improve firefighter safety. Length: 72 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking […]

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Situational Awareness is a Complex Topic

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Safety, Staffing, Teamwork, Training /

The topic of situational awareness is growing in popularity in the fire service and this is a good thing. For decades the casualty reports have revealed that flawed situational awareness leads to poor decision making and has contributed to tragic fireground outcomes. I am honored to see many of the teachings being shared here on

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Situational Awareness and Decision Making Tips for Training

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Fatigue, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Information overload, Intuition, Multitasking, Questions & Answers, Risk Assessment, Safety, Simulation, Size Up, Teamwork, Technology, Training /

I recently received an email from a SAMatters community member asking for tips to improve size-up, situational awareness and decision making while training in a flashover simulator. It was a great question (thank you Captain Scott Byers from the Tracy Fire Department)! I offered Scott a number of ideas and thought it would be good

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Positive & Negative Clues and Cues (Episode 274)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Confusion, Decision Making, Expectations, Human Behavior, Judgment, Mindfulness, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Tacit Knowledge, Vigilance /

This episode discusses how positive and negative clues and cues influence the development of situational awareness. Length: 22 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 out the Situational Awareness

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Tacit Knowledge

1 Comment / Article, Assumptions, Decision Making, Emotions, Experience, Human Behavior, Intuition, Prediction, Repetition, Safety, Tacit Knowledge, Training /

As you traverse through life, you are constantly gathering and assessing information. This is accomplished though sensory input (seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling). The senses are always on, always capturing data. Sometimes you are aware of the data being captured and sometimes you’re not. Sometimes you’re able to readily recall stored data and sometimes

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Radio Discipline (Episode 272)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Human Behavior, Information overload, Miscommunications, Overload, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Size Up, Tunneled Senses /

  This episode discusses the importance of radio discipline in developing and maintaining situational awareness. Length: 19 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 out the Situational Awareness Matters

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What is SA and Why Does it Matter? (Episode 271)

Leave a Comment / Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Mindfulness, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Vigilance /

This episode discusses what situational awareness is and why it is so important in the workplace. 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 out the Situational Awareness

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Pre-Conception (Episode 270)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Expectations, Goals, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Judgment, Mission, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up /

This episode discusses how pre-conception can impact situational awareness. Length: 19 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 out the Situational Awareness Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for details, enrollment

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Time Distortion: A Barrier to Situational Awareness (Episode 269)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Confusion, Denial, Disoriented, Excited, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Progress Reports, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Short Term Memory, Stress, Time Distortion /

This episode discusses the connection between time distortion and situational awareness. Length: 20 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 out the Situational Awareness Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for

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