situational awareness

Episode 227 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Staffing, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training /

    This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him.   Length: 72 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are […]

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Episode 226 | New Carlisle FD LODD Review

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Error Creep, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Information overload, Interruptions, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Personnel location, Repetition, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Teamwork, Tunnel Vision, Workload Management /

  This episode is a review of the lessons learned from the August 5, 2014 structure fire incident that killed Assistant Fire Chief Jamie Middlebrook. Length: 36 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

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Episode 225 | Chris Baker Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fatigue, Fear, Gut Feeling, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Overwhelm, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork /

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview with firefighter Chris Baker, sharing a near-miss event at a Chevron Richmond Refinery in California. Disclaimer: The comments shared during this interview are of the individual and do not represent the views of any company, employer or agency.  Length: 46 minutes Click the YouTube icon to

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Situational Awareness Matters!

Locus of Control

1 Comment / Article, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress /

Locus of control is a psychological principal that refers to the extent to which a person feels they are in control of the events that can affect their life, well-being or success. It is often associated with how a person views what happens to them in life and who is responsible for their successes and

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Episode 224 | Chris Baker Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Fatigue, Fear, Gut Feeling, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Overwhelm, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork /

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with firefighter Chris Baker, sharing a near-miss event at a Chevron Richmond Refinery in California. Disclaimer: The comments shared during this interview are of the individual and do not represent the views of any company, employer or agency.  Length: 44 minutes Click the YouTube icon to

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Episode 223 | Interruptions Impact Situational Awareness.

Leave a Comment / Attention Management, Communications, Confusion, Emotions, Expectations, Human Behavior, Miscommunications, Perception, Prediction, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening /

This episode discusses how interruptions can impact situational awareness.  Length: 16 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 Matters Online Academy. CLICK HERE for details,

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Situational Awareness Matters

Multiple Awarenesses

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness /

The mission of this website and my personal passion for situational awareness is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job – from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in

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Episode 222 | Doug Abernathy Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Error Creep, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Training, understaffing /

This episode revisits Part 2 of an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief Doug Abernathy discussing his near-miss at the Athletic Club Hotel fire on February 5, 1992  Length: 53 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational

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Interruptions Can Be a Barrier To Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Competency, Decision Making, Experience, Human Factors, Interruptions, Safety /

  Like many of you, I do my best work when I am not interrupted. Whether it’s someone trying to carry on a conversation, a phone ringing or a text message, an interruption disrupts the train of thought. And when the train of thought is disrupted, situational awareness can be adversely impacted.

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Episode 221 | Doug Abernathy Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Error Creep, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Intuition, Invincible, Judgment, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Training, Tunnel Vision, understaffing /

This episode revisits Part 1 of an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief Doug Abernathy discussing his near-miss at the Athletic Club Hotel fire on February 5, 1992  Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational

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