Human Factors Archives - Page 10 of 19 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

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 / Rich Gasaway

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 and Accountability

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Communications, Decision Making, Emotions, Human Factors, Intuition, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Prediction, Risk Assessment, Situational awareness, Size Up / Rich Gasaway

Not long ago, I was provided with the opportunity to present a webinar for Firehouse. The webinar was sponsored by Scott Safety. The program addressed the situational awareness/accountability connection. Thank you to Firehouse and Scott Safety for the opportunity to discuss this important topic.

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Sensory Conflict

Leave a Comment / Article, Communications, Confabulation, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Human Factors / Rich Gasaway

The process by which situational awareness is formed begins with using your five senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling) to gather information from your environment. That may arguably be the easiest part of the situational awareness developmental process so long as you are “paying attention” to your environment. Once the senses gather information, it

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Sleep and Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Competency, Culture, Decision Making, Fatigue, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

The work schedule, along with the physical and mental demands placed on first responders and people working in high risk environments, can quickly cause brain fatigue. Most responders know that fatigue can have an impact on critical thinking and mental acuity. This, in turn, can have a significant impact on situational awareness. Situational awareness is

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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 / Rich Gasaway

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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Relationship Bias – A Barrier to Situational Awareness

2 Comments / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors / Rich Gasaway

During a recent Flawed Situational Awareness program I conducted an exercise to show just how stubborn our brains can be. Without going into too much detail here, the exercise is designed to demonstrate the consequences of relationship biases. The results of the exercise are quite predictable and consistent. Whether we like it or not, our

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Pre Arrival Lens and Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Article, Communications, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

The pre-arrival lens is a neurological phenomenon that can both help and hinder situational awareness. The “lens” is your mental view of the incident you are responding to, developed prior to your arrival, and based on the triangulation of three primary data sources – dispatch information (shared via radio), past experience and imagination. This article

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The Perfect Storm

1 Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

In one of my recent Mental Management of Emergencies classes a participant was describing an incident that resulted in several first responder casualties. As he shared the details, he described the unfolding of events as “The Perfect Storm.” This article will discuss the origins of that phrase and share why we should consider changing our

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Top Ten Near-Miss Interviews (SAM 248)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Automation, Benchmarks, Biases, Bravado, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Confabulation, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Educational Products, Ego, Emotions, Equipment, Error Creep, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Fatigue, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Frustration, Gasaway Consulting Group, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Line of Duty Death, SAMatters Radio / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I recap the events surrounding our most downloaded near-miss interviews in the history of the show. Length: 33 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

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Pre-Arrival Lens, Task Fixation, Mission Myopia and Fear (Episode 246)

Leave a Comment / Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Experience, Fear, Human Factors, Intuition, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Perception Of Reality, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, you get to sit in on a segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway discusses four situational awareness barriers. Length: 33 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

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