Stress Archives - Page 7 of 16 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Understaffing Impacts Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Stress, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

Understaffing can have a big impact on first responder safety. We all know that. But it can also have a huge impact on first responder situational awareness… more than I ever imagined. I have experienced understaffing issues many times throughout my career but I never gave much thought to how my situational awareness was being […]

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Tired Brains (fatigue) and Situational Awareness

4 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Fatigue, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress / Rich Gasaway

I get asked often about the role of fatigue in situational awareness. Sometimes the question is based on general curiosity. Sometimes the inquiry is a result of someone seeking support for (or against) an extended work schedule. I sure don’t want to get caught in the middle of that debate but the question is a

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19 Ways Communications Barriers Can Impact Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Multitasking, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

If you are a student of near-miss and casualty reports then you know, without a doubt, that flawed communications are a major contributing factor when things go wrong and flawed communications are often a factor when the quality of situational awareness erodes. In fact, flawed communication was the second most frequently cited barrier to flawed

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Thirty Seconds from Death – The Randy Hanifen Story (Episode 287)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Excited, Experience, Goals, Judgment, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, understaffing, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, West Chester Captain Randy Hanifen shared the details of a near-miss inside a residential dwelling fire where, if circumstances were just slightly different, he might have been killed in a flashover. Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your

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Coffee Talk with Carl Potter from The Safety Institute (Episode 285)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Benchmarks, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Technology, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I am interviewed on the Coffee Talk Show with Carl Potter, founder of The Safety Institute. The Safety Institute is a resource for organizations that want to create workplaces where it’s difficult to get hurt. Length: 68 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you

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Using the Simulation Environment to Improve Situational Awareness

11 Comments / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Information overload, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Safety, Simulation, Situational awareness, Stress, Technology, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Many first responder training programs use simulation in the development of decision-making competencies. Simulation exercises help develop skills in setting strategy and tactics, in applying policies and procedures and in developing critical thinking skills. How can simulations be used in the development of situational awareness skills? The answer lies, in part, in understanding what situational

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Life and Death Matters – Chris and Sam Adams Interview – Part 2 (Episode 283)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Benchmarks, Biases, Bravado, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Pressure, Progress Reports, Repetition, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview with Chris and Sam Adams discussing their book, Life and Death Matters: Professionalism and Decision-Making for the First Responder. Length: 48 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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Life and Death Matters – Chris and Sam Adams Interview – Part 1 (Episode 282)

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Chris and Sam Adams discussing their book, Life and Death Matters: Professionalism and Decision-Making for the First Responder. Length: 42 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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Task Saturation Impacts Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Checklists, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Stress, Task Saturation, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

There’s no doubt that in dynamically changing, high-risk, high-consequence environments someone could be called upon to perform many varied tasks, some at the same time. When staffing levels are low, the likelihood of this situation increases significantly. The problem this creates is the brain does not perform well when task saturated, especially in stressful situations.

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Drone Responders Interview with Charles Werner (Episode 281)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Automation, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Information overload, Judgment, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Fire Chief (ret.) Charles Werner discusses how drone technology can be used to enhance first responder situational awareness and improve access to critical decision making information. Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and

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