Training Archives - Page 6 of 16 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Trapped Under A Ceiling Collapse. The Ron Hunter Story (Episode 291)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Gut Feeling, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission Myopia, Over Confident, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I interview Spartanburg Fire Lieutenant, Ron Hunter, as he recounts the mayday and RIT activation after being trapped under a collapsed ceiling at an apartment building fire. Length: 71 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness […]

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Training For Failure Will Impact Decision Making and Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Article, Situational awareness, Training / Rich Gasaway

During a “Firefighter Safety Mistakes & Best Practices program recently, I was approached at the break by a training officer who shared with me how he was making the very mistakes I was talking about in class. It turns out, he has been training his firefighters to fail. He described my message as “A wake-up

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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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Mindset of Aggressiveness – Chris Tobin Interview (Episode 284)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Bravado, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Experience, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Mission, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, SAMatters Radio, Staffing, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I interview Firefighter Chris Tobin as we discuss the need to have a mindset of aggressiveness. Length: 51 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 making to a higher level, check out

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Standards Can Harm Decision Making Under Stress

Leave a Comment / Article, Decision Making, Mayday and RIT, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Training / Rich Gasaway

I am a big advocate of departments having standardized procedures to guide operations as tools to help develop and maintain situational awareness. I don’t really care if you call them Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) or Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs). The important thing is you have a set of commonly understood Standards that guide performance. Standards

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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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Interview with Captain Alex Charoni on Near-miss reporting evaluations (Episode 280)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Close Call, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Line of Duty Death, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, South King County Fire & Rescue Captain Alex Charoni discusses his passion for determining the root cause of near-miss events and the approach his department is taking to improve firefighter safety. Length: 72 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

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Situational Awareness is a Complex Topic

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Safety, Staffing, Teamwork, Training / Rich Gasaway

The topic of situational awareness is growing in popularity in the fire service and this is a good thing. For decades the casualty reports have revealed that flawed situational awareness leads to poor decision making and has contributed to tragic fireground outcomes. I am honored to see many of the teachings being shared here on

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Situational Awareness and Decision Making Tips for Training

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Fatigue, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Information overload, Intuition, Multitasking, Questions & Answers, Risk Assessment, Safety, Simulation, Size Up, Teamwork, Technology, Training / Rich Gasaway

I recently received an email from a SAMatters community member asking for tips to improve size-up, situational awareness and decision making while training in a flashover simulator. It was a great question (thank you Captain Scott Byers from the Tracy Fire Department)! I offered Scott a number of ideas and thought it would be good

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