Human Behavior

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

Situational Awareness Matters

Multiple Awarenesses

The mission of this website and my personal passion for situational awareness is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job – from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in […]

Multiple Awarenesses Read More »

Episode 218 | Sean Dolan Interview

This episode revisits an interview conducted on September 1, 2014 with Sean Dolan from the Aurora (Colorado) Fire Department about his near-miss event.  Length: 78 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

Episode 218 | Sean Dolan Interview Read More »

Episode 217 | Overstaffing

This episode explores how over staffing can impact situational awareness.  Length: 29 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

Episode 217 | Overstaffing Read More »

I Woke Up Today With Nothing To Do!

If you have visited SAMatters before, you know the mission of the site is to help first responders improve situational awareness by “Helping you see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome.” Something happened today that I didn’t see coming and I’d like to share the story with you. Thank you for

I Woke Up Today With Nothing To Do! Read More »

Episode 205 | Frustration

This episode examines how frustration can impact your situational awareness.  Length: 27 minutes             click the YouTube icon to listen       __________________________________________________ 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.

Episode 205 | Frustration Read More »

Firefighting: It’s a whole new ballgame

There is little doubt the economic recession of 2008-2009 had a significant impact on the nation’s fire service. Hardly a day went by where there wasn’t some news about an organization that downsized, rightsized or capsized. There are all kinds of explanations and terms being attached to what happened. One I heard at the time

Firefighting: It’s a whole new ballgame Read More »

Episode 203 | Normalization of Deviance

When we are operating under conditions of stress and consequence, coupled with changing conditions and time compression, we can feel a sense of urgency and this can cause us to want to take a shortcut from safety best practices.  Length: 29 minutes       click the YouTube icon to listen       __________________________________________________

Episode 203 | Normalization of Deviance Read More »

Fifteen Situational Awareness Barriers

The mission of Situational Awareness Matters is to help you see the bad things coming… in time to change bad outcomes. SA is a complex neurological process and I go to painstaking efforts to ensure that what I teach here, on the podcast and in classrooms is “first responder friendly.” I don’t ever want a

Fifteen Situational Awareness Barriers Read More »

Episode 202 | Relationship Bias

The episode explores how relationship bias can impact situational awareness.  Length: 29 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen

Episode 202 | Relationship Bias Read More »

Explaining Resistance to Change

Imagine for a moment that you’re part of a 4-person first-due crew responding on to an apartment fire. On the way to the call the dispatcher announces over the radio that a caller is reporting the fire to be on the first floor of a three-story apartment building. Your company officer tells you that on

Explaining Resistance to Change Read More »