These are articles related to situational awareness.
Oftentimes when I am talking with first responders about the role of situational awareness and casualty incidents, especially the ones that have recently occurred, they share with me their opinions and frustrations about the performance of the responders and the decisions made by command staff. If I have learned anything, it’s first responders are opinionated […]
Stop Judging to Improve Situational Awareness Read More »
During an open conference call recently, I had the opportunity to discuss situational awareness challenges and opportunities (which, by the way… was really enjoyable) I had a chief officer from Wisconsin (thanks Lance) ask a question about company officer priorities on sizing up a residential dwelling fire. It’s a question I get asked often and have built
Four Size-up Priorities to Improve Situational Awareness Read More »
Situational awareness starts with capturing clues and cues in your environment (perception) and then understanding what those clues and cues mean (comprehension). At a structure fire the process of capturing information should involve a complete 360-degree size-up of the scene. Many departments have policies that stipulate the completion of a 360-degree size up. Yet, for
Completing the 360-Degree Size-Up Read More »
This website is dedicated to improving situational awareness of first responders. The precursor to situational awareness is situational readiness. I define situational readiness as: Having the ability to anticipate what things need to be in place to be well-prepared for an emergency response; and then, taking the steps necessary to ensure those things are done
Ten Things to Develop Situational Readiness Read More »
Part of the process to develop and maintain situational awareness at an emergency scene is having the ability to predict the future of the event. It’s called projection and it’s the highest level of situational awareness. [tweet this] To be good at projecting the future, it is necessary to have expectations about the future events.
Safety Trumps Self-Esteem In Good Decision Making Read More »
Situational Awareness is developed, maintained and erodes on three levels. The highest level of situational awareness is developed by being able to make realistic and accurate projections of the future events. The projections are sometimes called “mental models.” Projecting the future facilitates being able to see bad things coming… in time to change the outcome. If
Expectations are Important 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 »
One of the foundations of situational awareness development is being able to make accurate predictions of future events. Making (accurate) predictions is a fairly complex neurological process that relies heavily on gathering information, comprehending the meaning of the information, tapping into your stored knowledge of past experiences, trusting your intuition and using your imagination to
Unexpected information can be a barrier to situational awareness Read More »
