Safety

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making articles related to first responder safety.

Episode 211 | 4th Anniversary episode

This episode celebrates the 4th anniversary of the SAMatters show and chronicles the history of the founder and his tireless mission to improve situational awareness and high-risk decision making.  Length: 45 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding […]

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Episode 210 | Observations and lessons from FDIC

This episode shares observations and lessons learned from the 2018 International Fire Department Instructors Conference.  Length: 64 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

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Episode 208 | Team Situational Awareness

In this episode we discuss the importance of team situational awareness and how it can improve or impact safety.  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

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Episode 207 | Selective Listening

This episode examines how selective listening can impact 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. CLICK HERE for

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Episode 206 | Competing Goals

This episode examines how competing goals can impact situational awareness.  Length: 31 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.

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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

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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       __________________________________________________

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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

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Explaining Tunnel Vision

When it comes to developing and maintaining situational awareness, tunnel vision is a big deal. Effective situational awareness is developed from having a broad perception of the environment in which you are operating. As your focus narrows, you start to miss things. Those “missed things” are like lost puzzle pieces, leaving holes in your understanding

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Episode 200 | Chesterfield County Interview – Part 3

This episode is the third (and final) segment of an interview with Chesterfield County Battalion Chief Joy Knicely and Captain Rick Grassel.  Length: 50 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!       __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making

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