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Situational awareness

These are articles related to situational awareness.

Situational Awareness Matters

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 6: The Silent

Welcome to part six of this nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness. I appreciate all of the very kind feedback I have been receiving on this series on Facebook, Twitter and by email. Your positive feedback energizes me so much. Thank you. In this segment we’re going to discuss the Silent member. […]

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Situational Awareness Matters

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 5: The Stubborn

Welcome to the fifth of the nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness and, subsequently, the safety of your team. In this article I am going to address the stubborn team member. This individual can be described as one set in their ways, closed minded and perhaps even defiant. Their narrowed view

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 4 – The Superior

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Dangerous Mindsets series. Previously I talked about the dangerous mindsets of the Starter, the Subordinate and the Specialist. This article addresses the Superior or, more appropriately, the Superior with personal issues and how that can impact situational awareness and team safety. It would be rare for a supervisor

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 3: The Specialist

Welcome to the third segment of the nine dangerous mindsets series. This article takes a look at the Specialist, also known as the ‘expert‘ and sometimes less affectionately referred to as the ‘know it all.’ Having smart people around is a good thing. In fact, one of the  qualities of good leadership is the desire

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 2: The Subordinate

Being a subordinate is an inherently essential skill for first responders. Borrowing a line from the movie A Few Good Men “We follow orders or people die.” This is true. However, consistent with the outcome of the movie, sometimes BECAUSE we follow orders people die. An example of this would be when a decision maker

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Episode 226 | New Carlisle FD LODD Review

  This episode is a review of the lessons learned from the August 5, 2014 structure fire incident that killed Assistant Fire Chief Jamie Middlebrook. Length: 36 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

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Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 1: The Starter

One of the human factors influencing situational awareness is the mindset of the first responder. Mindset is based on beliefs, biases and self-perception. Mindset may also be influenced by organizational culture and peer pressure. In this series I am going to explore nine potentially dangerous mindsets and share how they can impact emergency scene safety.

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Situational Awareness Matters!

Locus of Control

Locus of control is a psychological principal that refers to the extent to which a person feels they are in control of the events that can affect their life, well-being or success. It is often associated with how a person views what happens to them in life and who is responsible for their successes and

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Situational Awareness Matters

Multiple Awarenesses

The mission of this website and my personal passion for situational awareness is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job – from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in

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Independent Actions Can Impact Team Situational Awareness

For some public safety agencies it is standard practice for the first arriving personnel (or crews of personnel) to deploy independently. Oftentimes these responders are highly trained, highly motivated and action oriented. What they are lacking is coordination of their efforts. The potential problem with this independent action is it may be unrealistic to think

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