SAMatters Radio

One of the ways to improve your situational awareness is to develop a conscious awareness about your awareness. Developing and maintaining situational awareness can be challenging while operating in high stress conditions. Being aware of this and using techniques to ensure you remain in the moment can improve safety.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men...

It is important for a commander to have situational awareness about the resources available and to use that knowledge to drive decisions. Setting strategy without consideration to the quantity and quality of resources can be very risky. This episode explores how to develop situational awareness about resource availability.     Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1...

One of the problems that can happen while working in high stress, time compressed environments is a person can develop a flawed perception of reality. When this happens, they will not realize it until something happens that allows them to see their perception was flawed. This is where the devil's advocate can help. This episode explains how.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro musi...

One of the most common pieces of feedback received from live events is "Everyone in my department needed to hear this message." I could not agree more. I realized with this feedback came a challenge to create a convenient, affordable way for every department to train every member. From that inspiration came the Situational Awareness Matters Online Academy.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.c...

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 9 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 my programs, you know these lessons are always shared in friendly ways...

A person suffering from auditory exclusion will experience temporary hearing loss.  While it is most often identified and associated with individuals who are working in high stress environments, the truth is it can happen to any of us at any time. We will discuss how it happens and how it impacts situational awareness.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) M...

Beaver Dam (WI) Fire Chief, Alan Mannel, was working as a police officer in Crete, Illinois where a suspect opened fire on officers while they were attempting to apprehend him following a shooting incident in a neighboring Park Forest. Then-patrolman Mannel, ended up discharging his weapon three times, though he only remembered shooting twice. He also described experiencing a mild form of auditory...

Lieutenant Jarrod Sergi attended one of my situational awareness programs in Virginia earlier this year and during the program we discussed, among many other topics, the impact of sleep inertia on awareness and decision making. A few months after the class Lieutenant Sergi and his crew were responding to a late-night residential dwelling fire and he experienced the impact of sleep inertia. This co...

It is not uncommon for responders to be told: "If you see something that is causing you a concern, speak up." And everyone nods their heads in the affirmative. But when it comes right down to it… will they? From the discussions I've had with first responders I don't think the answer is as cut and dried as you might think. In this episode we will explore why and I'll offer some suggestions for how...

On February 14, 2014 the Birmingham Fire Department was dispatched to a residential dwelling fire at 0130. On arrival the first-in company reported heavy fire conditions on the CD corner of the house. There were two vehicles on the property, one of the vehicles had three car seats in it. This gave the IC a strong indication there were people still in the house, including children. Despite the chal...

One of the best ways we can learn how to be safer is to learn from our mistakes. Truly, haven't we all said "I've learned more from the mistakes I've made in life than the things I've done right." The same thing can be said about our service as first responders. There is a lot to learn from mistakes – ours and others. That's assuming the mistakes that resulted in near-miss events and lessons learn...

Your chances of getting killed in a commercial airline accident while traveling with one of the top 20 U.S. carriers is roughly 1:87 million. As a researcher and practitioner of first responder safety this incredible safety statistic causes me to contemplate how the airlines have been able to create such an impeccable safety record. In this episode we explore how a facilitated debriefing can help...

As we train first responders to improve situational awareness it is important the lessons include a list of both positive and negative clues and cues. Clues and cues are another way of saying "information"… the information you gather and process that forms your situational awareness.  In the context of developing situational awareness, positive and negative clues and cues does not mean good and ba...

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 failures. I recently came across some research on the topic of locus of control that got me wond...

First responders can experience three types of stress: Acute stress, episodic acute stress and chronic stress. This episode explores how stress can impact a first responder's situational awareness and, equally concerning, how stress can have devastating long-term impacts on a responder's health and wellness.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without...

Instructor John Dixon discusses the normalization of deviance, complacency, groupthink and more. He offers ideas about how to recognize the problem and recommends best practices for individuals and organizations for how to overcome this challenging – and potentially deadly – phenomenon.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Reco...

On January 19, 2009 the West Metro Fire Department responded to a well-involved, wind-driven residential dwelling fire. This multiple alarm fire was their second for the evening. Previously, the same companies had worked a multiple alarm garden-style apartment building fire. During this interview, Division Chief Dan Phannenstiel discusses what happened at both fires and the near-miss event that ga...

On January 19, 2009 the West Metro Fire Department responded to a well-involved, wind-driven residential dwelling fire. This multiple alarm fire was their second for the evening. Previously, the same companies had worked a multiple alarm garden-style apartment building fire. During this interview, Division Chief Dan Phannenstiel discusses what happened at both fires and the near-miss event that ga...

On May 22, 2010, John Glaser, a 33-year-old career fire fighter died while conducting a primary search of a residential house fire. Firefighter Glaser vomited in his SCBA face piece and then removed it, causing him to inhale products of combustion. The fire was reported by automatic alarm at 8:55 p.m. Saturday at 13408 W. 75th Court, according to fire officials. When firefighters arrived, they fou...

On May 22, 2010, John Glaser, a 33-year-old career fire fighter died while conducting a primary search of a residential house fire. Firefighter Glaser vomited in his SCBA face piece and then removed it, causing him to inhale products of combustion. The fire was reported by automatic alarm at 8:55 p.m. Saturday at 13408 W. 75th Court, according to fire officials. When firefighters arrived, they fou...

This episode explores two near-miss events involving vehicle fires. The first comes from a Situational Awareness Matters member and the second from the National Near-Miss reporting system. In both cases if circumstances were just slightly different there could have been a significant catastrophic outcome. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats...

A few years ago I had the honor of presenting at a conference called Fire Asia. It was hosted in Hong Kong and brought together fire professionals from Asia, Europe and Australia. While there, I received a tour of the Hong Kong Fire Department training center. One of the things that stood out to me is how they use noise to impact awareness while training responders. This episode shares my observat...

The red flags discussed in the episode are clues and cues that provide conscious (overt) awareness of what is going on or subconscious (covert) awareness of what may be going on. The red flags are clues and cues that indicate things may not be right for an interior entry.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records   Situation...

There is a three stage process to develop and maintain situational awareness that starts with perception and then advances to understanding and, finally, culminates with prediction – the ability to anticipate future events before they happen. In this episode, I provide a framework for how to predict outcomes.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without...

If you are a student of near-miss and casualty reports then you know, without a doubt, that flawed communications is a major contributing factor when things go wrong and flawed communications is often a factor when the quality of situational awareness erodes. In fact, flawed communications was the second most frequently cited barrier to flawed situational awareness in my research, second only to s...