These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making articles related to first responder safety.
This episode discusses the fire service “perfect storm” – a combination of unpredictable circumstances that lead to a catastrophic outcome. Length: 39 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 […]
Episode 109 | The Perfect Storm Read More »
Personnel Accountability Reports (PARs) are essential to helping commanders develop and maintain situational awareness. A quality PAR dials the commander into every crew’s size, their location and their progress. But the standard PAR has a fundamental flaw that can adversely impact the commander’s situational awareness. Here’s how…
A Walking PAR Can Improve Situational Awareness Read More »
This episode explores how situational awareness may be impacted when the first arriving officer establishes a “working command.” Length: 32 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
Episode 108 | Working Command and Situational Awareness Read More »
In this episode I interview Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr. After serving 30 years with Montgomery County Fire Department, Chief Lohr accepted a position with the Hagerstown Fire Department – a department much smaller than his previous department and with far fewer resources. We discuss the safety and the improvements
Episode 107 | Interview with Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr Read More »
I was invited to be an observer at a regional police tactical training exercise. The program was a multi-day event, starting with some classroom training and culminating in a series of simulations using mock weapons, flash-bangs and actors. The one thing that readily stood out to me was the tactical teams were not using radios
Radio Communications is Essential to Situational Awareness Read More »
Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In science we call this projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or project, the future events. This is accomplished through mental models you develop that are founded in your training and experience.
Time to Task Completion is Critical Read More »
There is a growing body of research revealing that many human’s have an irrational obsession with loss. Or, perhaps more accurately, an irrational obsession with AVOIDING loss. This phenomenon is something I have seen played out in my evaluation of many casualty incidents. Ironically, the human trait to avoid loss is the same trait that
The Irrational Obsession With Loss Read More »
If you are a student of near-miss and casualty reports then you know, without a doubt, that flawed communications is a major contributing factor when things go wrong and flawed communications is often a factor when the quality of situational awareness erodes. In fact, flawed communications was the second most frequently cited barrier to flawed
19 Ways Communications Barriers Can Impact Situational Awareness Read More »
Last year i started offered a summary of my activities to advance the Situational Awareness Matters mission. I received a lot of positive comments and support from the information I shared so I thought I would carry on the tradition by posting this – 2015 year in review. The personal motivation I derive from this
2015 Year in Review Read More »
It is the goal of Situational Awareness Matters to post a new podcast episode every Tuesday and a new blog article every Friday. This goal was achieved in 2015. Thus, there were 52 podcast episodes and 52 blog articles posted. Listed below are the topics and links to the top 10 most popular blog articles
