Human Behavior

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

The subordinate

Episode 151 | Dangerous Mindsets – The Subordinate

  This episode is part two of a nine-part serious on dangerous mindsets that first responders can develop and I offer some advice for dealing with each. Length: 28 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to […]

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Episode 150 | Dangerous Mindsets – The Starter

  In this episode we kick off a nine-part serious on dangerous mindsets that first responders develop and offer some advice for dealing with each. We start off with talking about the starter mindset. That’s the mindset of the brand new responder. It is, in many ways, different from seasoned responders. Length: 30 minutes click

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 4

  This article continues the series focusing on the seemingly-insane things that some first responders do while operating in high-stress, high-consequence environments. Oftentimes, the individuals trying to make sense of these behaviors are quick to judge those on the sharp of the decision by saying things like: “They weren’t paying attention?” or “How could they

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 3

This series is focused on the seemingly insane things that first responders do while operating in high-stress, high-consequence environments. Oftentimes, those trying to make sense of these behaviors are quick to judge the participants, saying things like: “How could they be so stupid?” or “What were they thinking?” or perhaps the worst one of all

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 2

In this segment, we continue our discussion about the seemingly insane things that firefighters do at structure fires. I use the word insane not because the firefighters suffer from a mental affliction. Rather, I use the word insane because we keep doing the same things over and over again while expecting different results. This meets

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Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 1

Albert Einstein is credited with saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” If you have spent time reading firefighter fatality reports, you might start to see the real-life manifestation of Einstein’s definition of insanity. In fact, I would go as far as to say we’ve got to

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Episode 146 | Fear and situational awareness

In this episode, we discuss how fear can impact situational awareness in ways that might be surprising. Length: 29 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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Episode 140 | Speaking up

    In this episode, I interview my son, Cameron Gasaway, a firefighter with the Madison, Wisconsin Fire Department, about why it is so hard to speak up when you see something that’s going wrong. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of

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Episode 127 | Teaching responders how to speak up

    In this episode, we discuss the challenges of teaching responders how to speak up when they think something is going wrong.  As we will see, it goes way beyond telling them to speak up if they see something. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are

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Episode 125 | The top 12 reasons why first responders won’t discuss their near-miss events

    In this episode we look at the top 12 reasons why first responders are so hesitant to discuss their near-miss events and the lessons they learned from them that could save the lives of other responders. Length: 34 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

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