decision making

Episode 168 | Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 4

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Benchmarks, Decision Making, Expectations, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission Myopia, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision /

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” This is Part 4 of a 5-part series that explores situational awareness insanity. Length: 23 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness […]

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Aggressive versus conservative

3 Comments / Article, Checklists, Close Call, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Risk Assessment, Safety, Training /

There is an ongoing debate in the fire service. Unless you are unplugged from social media and online journals, you’re surely aware of it. On one end of the argument are those who believe the fire service is tactically too aggressive and purport this may be contributing to casualties. On the other side of the

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Episode 167 | Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 3

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Human Behavior, Judgment, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Sensory Conflict /

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” This is Part 3 of a 5-part series that explores situational awareness insanity. Length: 30 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness

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Episode 166 | Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Decision Making, Expectations, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Perception, Prediction, Pressure, SAMatters Radio /

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” This is Part 2 of a 5-part series that explores situational awareness insanity. Length: 25 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness

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Actions of the first-in officer

Leave a Comment / Article, Assumptions, Attention Management, Checklists, Communications, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Over Confident, Prediction /

During a recent Flawed Situational awareness program, I engaged the class in a discussion of what the actions of the first-in officer should be once the decision is made to be offensive/interior. The choices were: a.) Make entry with the crew; b.) Establish a fixed command position outside and send the crew in without the

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Episode 165 | Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Expectations, Habits, Human Factors, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Tacit Knowledge, Training /

Albert Einstein is credited with saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” This is Part 1 of a 5-part series that explores situational awareness insanity. Length: 26 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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A situational awareness paradigm shift

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Incompetence, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Saturation, Tunneled Senses, Workload Management /

Paradigm: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them . Recent research conducted by Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have revealed a flaw in a long standing paradigm about fire attack. As this blog does not

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Episode 164 | Predicting the future

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Decision Making, Expectations, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio /

One of the most challenging parts of situational awareness development is making an accurate prediction about what is going to happen in the future.  This is one of the most often overlooked components of situational awareness development and the outcome can be catastrophic. Length: 30 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________

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A Must-See Safety Video

2 Comments / Accountability, Article, Communications, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Incompetence, Leadership, Physical Fitness, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Workload Management /

I would like to recommend that you all watch this video created by the Chicago Fire Department, depicting the [clickandtweet handle=”richgasaway” hashtag=”samatters” related=”samatters” layout=”” position=””]powerful life stories of firefighters who have been injured or killed.[/clickandtweet]

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Episode 163 | Lynchburg FD House Fire Near Miss – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Gut Feeling, Judgment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Teamwork, Workload Management /

Captain Bob Mayes, Captain John Ripley, and Deputy Chief Greg Wormser were on the first-alarm assignment to a report of a residential dwelling fire. As the incident progressed conditions changed which resulted in a significant near-miss event. This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Length: 47 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen  

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