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Human Behavior

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

Episode 181 | Colorado Springs FD Interview – Part 1

This episode is part 1 of an interview with three members of the Colorado Springs Fire Department discussing recruit training, using science to teach firefighting and more. Length: 55 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen  

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Come down off the high perch of judgment

At the start of the Flawed Situational Awareness program I share a story about my early years as a company officer and subsequently as a command-level officer. Even in those days (more than 30 years ago), I held a deep desire to learn from failure and catastrophe. I read every near-miss and casualty report I

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Chatty TSA Agents

It is possible that while you are attempting to pay attention to something, you can be drawn off your task by distractions or interruptions to your workload. A distraction is something that pulls your attention away by accident (like a reflex look in the direction of a loud noise). An interruption is something that pulls

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Duty to Die Syndrome

I recently sent out a message across my social media networks (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) about bravado being a barrier to situational awareness. The message, in case you missed it, read: Bravado: The purposeful ignorance of critical signs of danger coupled with a sense of invincibility. A barrier to situational awareness.  First responders sometimes confuse

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Episode 175 | Positive Reinforcement of Undesired Behavior

  This episode explores how the positive reinforcement of undesired behavior can impact first responder safety. Length: 22 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

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Assumptions can be a situational awareness barrier

  We make assumptions every day. Some of them are accurate. Others are not. Assumptions occur when there is an absence of complete information. Such is the case at just about every emergency scene you respond to. Let’s explore how we make assumptions.

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Episode 173 | Bravado

This episode explores the challenges of how bravado can impact situational awareness. Length: 26 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. CLICK HERE for details,

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Are You Assuming Risk or Creating Risk?

I recently read an article where the author was taking exception to the risk management maxim: ‘We will risk a lot to save a lot and risk little to save little.’ There are several variations on this maxim, including: ‘Great risks will be taken to save savable lives; Moderate risks will be taken to save

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Appoint a DA to improve your SA

In the business world it is not uncommon for executives to appoint someone on the senior staff to serve as the Devil’s Advocate (DA) when considering a major strategic decision. The role of the DA is to look at the strategy from a critical perspective and to raise objections about flaws in the strategy before

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Episode171 | Expectations can impact Situational Awareness

  This episode explores how our expectations can create stress and how stress can lead to task fixation, contribute to tunnel vision and cause a host of other situational awareness problems. Length: 26 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and

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