The research I have conducted on the neuroscience of situational awareness and high-risk decision making has been fascinating and extremely enlightening to me. Over the past 12 years, it has been very rewarding to take the lessons of research and apply them for the benefit of first responders. For those who have attended one of […]
Five Best Practices for Managing the Mental Workload Read More »
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
Ignoring the Signs of Danger Read More »
You develop situational awareness by using your senses to capture information (Level 1 situational awareness). Those clues and cues are then processed into understanding (Level 2 situational awareness). Once you understand what is happening, you can then make predictions of future events (Level 3 situational awareness). This article focuses on the third level of situational
Flawed Expectations of Personnel Can Impact Situational Awareness Read More »
I would like to share the results of a series of informal polls I have been conducting over a several year period. I conducted these surveys during my Firefighter Safety: Mistakes & Best Practices programs. Roughly 7,000 first responders have participated. There is nothing scientific about this survey or the results. It was merely
Giving L.I.P. to R.I.T. Read More »
In this episode, a special guest presents twelve ways to improve situational awareness while working in high-risk, high consequence environments. Length: 25 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,
Twelve Ways to Improve Situational Awareness (SAM 244) Read More »
Towering Inferno… Backdraft… Ladder 49… Emergency… Adam 12… Dragnet… Rescue Me… Chicago Fire… Hawaii Five O … Love them or hate them, movies and television influence perceptions and create expectations three ways: First, they influence citizen perceptions of emergency service providers and create certain performance expectations. Second, they influence first responders’ perceptions of themselves and
Expectations can Impact Situational Awareness Read More »
In this episode, a special guest (Santa) presents twelve tips to improve situational awareness while working in high-risk, high consequence environments. Merry Christmas everyone! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and ole Santa is feeling the situational awareness love. Surely, you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” – You know
Twelve tips to improve situational awareness – SAM 383 Read More »
This interview is part 2 of a 2-part interview with Laverne Friesen and his wife, Chancy, talking about his mental health near miss and how they are working through the challenges together. Length: 56 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your
Mental Health Mayday – The Verne and Chancy Friesen Story – Part 2 (Episode 311) 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 »
This interview is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Laverne Friesen and his wife, Chancy, talking about his mental health near miss and how they are working through the challenges together. Length: 51 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your
Mental Health Mayday – The Verne and Chancy Friesen Story – Part 1 (Episode 310) Read More »
