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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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Gasaway Safety Solutions Presenting at the Colorado Traffic Incident Management Conference

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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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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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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Live Programs List – Industry

Tim Snyder

Keynotes & Training Programs Powerful, results-oriented, high-impact, experience-based safety and leadership programs using interactive, adult learning techniques. For 25 years Dr. Richard Gasaway has been delivering content rich programs for first responders, business leaders and industral workers ranging in size from 10 to 5,000 throughout the United States, Canada, England, Hong Kong and Australia. Situational

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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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Situational Awareness and Accountability

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Communications, Decision Making, Emotions, Human Factors, Intuition, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Prediction, Risk Assessment, Situational awareness, Size Up / Rich Gasaway

Not long ago, I was provided with the opportunity to present a webinar for Firehouse. The webinar was sponsored by Scott Safety. The program addressed the situational awareness/accountability connection. Thank you to Firehouse and Scott Safety for the opportunity to discuss this important topic.

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Comfortably Complacent (Episode 277)

Leave a Comment / Biases, Complacency, Decision Making, Expectations, Habits, Leadership, Mindfulness, Over Confident, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio / Rich Gasaway

This episode discusses how easy it can be to get into a comfortable rut of complacency. Length: 20 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 the Situational Awareness

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Room for Improvement

2 Comments / Accountability, Article, Auditory exclusion, Communications, Decision Making, Expectations, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

I recently read an investigation report where a firefighter died and it made me sad. First, as we see so often in after action reviews, it appears as though the tragedy may have been preventable. The second thing that made me sad about this investigation report was the inaccurate and incomplete recommendations about situational awareness.

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