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Tunneled Senses

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to tunneled senses.

Understanding Stress – Part 6: Auditory Exclusion

Welcome to Part 6 of the Understanding Stress series. In the last segment I shared with you some of the ill-effects stress can have on vision and I made brief reference to a term that may be new to many readers – auditory exclusion. This is an important consequence of stress that can have tremendous […]

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Understanding Stress – Part 5: Tunnel Vision

Welcome to Part 5 of my discussion on stress. In the last segment I talked about the positive and negative impacts of hyper vigilance and its impact on situational awareness. While stress-released hormones increase arousal of the senses, the brain struggles to process all the information coming in. If you try to process the meaning

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Seven Situational Awareness Thieves

Recently I had a video clip shared with me of a residential dwelling fire. The video captures a flashover event. It was reported to me that firefighters were operating inside the structure when it occurred. As I watched the video progress, it was apparent interior conditions were getting worse, the color of the smoke was

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Mission Myopia: A situational awareness barrier

The primary mission in all emergency situations is to save lives and property. In some agencies when a new member is inducted into the organization they take an oath of office that includes pledging their commitment to this mission. The mission is an important – even noble – calling. But what happens when a responder

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Episode 234 | The Dirty Dozen – Killer Situational Awareness Barriers

This episode discusses some of the most challenging barriers to situational awareness while working in high-risk, high-consequence environments.  This is part 2 so if you missed part 1 – Episode 233 – be sure to check it out first and that will help you understand the challenges we are going to discuss here. Length: 36

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Episode 233 | The Process for Developing Situational Awareness

The episode discusses the process for developing and maintaining situational awareness.  We will discuss the foundation, walls and roof of the SA development process. This is part 1 of a 2-part episode.   Length: 36 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

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Episode 216 | Task Fixation – A Barrier to Awareness

This episode examines how task fixation can impact situational awareness while working in high-risk environments.  Length: 30 minutes click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO of this interview!         __________________________________________________ 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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Ignoring the Signs of Danger

A lesson on situational awareness: The tones drop for a reported residential fire. On the way to the call, dispatch reports multiple calls, confirming a working fire. On arrival the crew sees fire blowing out the B-C corner of the single story, detached residential dwelling. The resident is standing in the front yard. A quick

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Episode 207 | Selective Listening

This episode examines how selective listening can impact situational awareness.  Length: 27 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 Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for

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Episode 206 | Competing Goals

This episode examines how competing goals can impact situational awareness.  Length: 31 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 Matters Online Academy.

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