SAMatters Radio

Tacit knowledge is that collection of life's experiences, education and training that resides outside conscious awareness. It's the knowledge one possesses that helps tap into intuition, a vital component to making high-stress, high-consequence, and rapid decisions.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Licensed by BMI M...

If we're being honest with ourselves, we know that not all team members are created equal. It is a situational awareness best practice to know the strengths (and weaknesses) of your team before engaging in high-risk, high-consequence activities.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Licensed by BMI Music   Situational Aw...

Because individuals and teams frequently operate in environments where there are multiple auditory inputs (e.g., radio traffic, face-to-face communications, ambient sounds, etc.) they are often forced to prioritize what they listen to (or don't listen to). This can cause issues with situational awareness.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hat...

Arguably, to accomplish a mission, it would be very beneficial to have a shared set of goals that everyone understands and everyone is working on together in a unified way to accomplish. Shared goals can contribute to shared situational awareness – a common understanding of what is happening and what the plan of action entails – Answering questions like: What is being done and why? What is the str...

Anyone who's been frustrated knows it can consume a lot of your mental energy and thinking space. This can significantly impact your situational awareness. In fact, depending on the level of frustration, your brain can be hijacked by all-consuming thoughts about what is causing your angst. While operating in a high-risk, high-stress environment, frustration may draw your attention away from percei...

We make assumptions every day. Some of them are accurate. Others are not. Assumptions occur when there is an absence of complete information. Such is the case at just about every high-risk, high-consequence event you must deal with. Let's explore how we make assumptions. An assumption is a mental guess or estimate. In the absence of complete information, you are forced to fill in the missing infor...

We rationalize that because we are operating in conditions of stress and consequence, with urgency and a feeling of pressure to perform quickly, we can take shortcuts to our best practices. Some even go as far as to rationalize that we SHOULD shortcut our safety best practices when faced with conditions that are urgent. This episode explores how shortcuts, rewarded with successful outcomes can lea...

The premise behind relationship bias is that we tend to be attracted toward (and like) people whom we know well and to whom we know share similar interests. The stronger our relationship with another person, the more likely we are to believe them when they tell us something. The weaker the relationship, the less likely we are to believe the other person.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com...

When everything goes as planned, your expectations are met and situational awareness is easily formed and sustained.  However, sometimes your expectations are violated. In other words, your beautifully constructed mental model of the outcomes of an event are flawed. When this happens, your brain can become overwhelmed with confusion. It can also lead to anger and frustration because your brain doe...

In the early morning hours of January 17, 2016, Chesterfield County Fire & EMS responded to a residential fire on Wicklow Lane that would result in fire civilian fire fatalities, including 2 children. This three-part interview chronicles the event, the situational awareness challenges and the lessons learned from the first-in captain and the first arriving battalion chief. See the FULL interview o...

In the early morning hours of January 17, 2016, Chesterfield County Fire & EMS responded to a residential fire on Wicklow Lane that would result in fire civilian fire fatalities, including 2 children. This three-part interview chronicles the event, the situational awareness challenges and the lessons learned from the first-in captain and the first arriving battalion chief.   Our sponsor: Midwest F...

In the early morning hours of January 17, 2016, Chesterfield County Fire & EMS responded to a residential fire on Wicklow Lane that would result in fire civilian fire fatalities, including 2 children. This three-part interview chronicles the event, the situational awareness challenges and the lessons learned from the first-in captain and the first arriving battalion chief.   Our sponsor: Midwest F...

Jason Bonney has been with the Central Jackson Fire Protection District in Blue Springs, Missouri for 15 years where he serves as the Assistant Chief of Training.  Jason is working on his research paper for the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. During the interview we talk about the connection between training and performing on high-risk events.     Our sponsor: Midwest...

Jason Bonney has been with the Central Jackson Fire Protection District in Blue Springs, Missouri for 15 years where he serves as the Assistant Chief of Training.  Jason is working on his research paper for the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. During the interview we talk about the connection between training and performing on high-risk events.     Our sponsor: Midwest...

Christo Motz is an International Consultant on Survival and Resilience. As a board member he writes articles for the Crisis Response Journal on topics related to self-reliance, survival and community safety during a crisis.  In this episode Christo interviews Dr. Gasaway in preparation for an article his is writing for the Journal.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety D...

Christo Motz is an International Consultant on Survival and Resilience. As a board member he writes articles for the Crisis Response Journal on topics related to self-reliance, survival and community safety during a crisis.  In this episode he interviews Dr. Gasaway in preparation for an article his is writing for the Journal.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance...

Herd mentality occurs when individuals group together and follow each other for inexplicable reasons. This is sometimes referred to as the "mob mentality" and is observed during riots. When one-person yells loudly and charges forward, the herd (or mob) follows. This episode discusses how herd mentality might impact situational awareness and decision making at emergency scenes.   Notable Near-Miss...

On December 18, 2017 an Amtrak train bound for Portland from Seattle derailed on a busy overpass on Interstate 5 in DuPont, Washington. This interview is Chief Creekmore's first hand perspective of the incident. He discusses the complexity of an incident that resulted in 3 fatalities and nearly 100 victims transported to area hospitals.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Saf...

In October I was in Chesapeake to deliver two-days of situational awareness training and I caught up with one of my life-long friends, Norfolk Assistant Fire Chief, John DiBacco. John and I served together on our first fire department in Weirton, West Virginia.  During the interview we talked about the process of after-action reviews John uses to gather and share lessons with his crews.   Our spon...

In September I was in Chesapeake to deliver two-days of situational awareness training and I caught up with one of my life-long friends, Norfolk Assistant Fire Chief, John DiBacco. John and I served together on our first fire department in Weirton, West Virginia.  During the interview we talked about the process of after-action reviews John uses to gather and share lessons with his crews.   Our sp...

In reading casualty reports you will often see issues related to communications as a contributing factor. Miscommunications, lack of communications or too much radio traffic (to include overloaded radio channels) are often cited. It is the last of these issues I want to address. There is an inherent cognitive consequence from too much communications that can impact situational awareness. Essential...

In reading casualty reports you will often see issues related to communications as a contributing factor. Miscommunications, lack of communications or too much radio traffic (to include overloaded radio channels) are often cited. It is the last of these issues I want to address. There is an inherent cognitive consequence from too much communications that can impact situational awareness. Essential...

This episode chronicles an event where responders were managing two cardiac arrest calls in a hotel room.  Initial response teams did not consider the possibility of carbon monoxide as the potential cause and the outcome was almost catastrophic for the response teams. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Licensed by BMI M...

Oftentimes employee training involves scenarios where workers learn how to perform to the scripted standards. On the surface, there's nothing wrong with that. However, the employee training scenarios are often developed to ensure the outcome of the training will be success.  And, as many workers know, the complexity of many work issues can often require actions that are not consistent with the Sta...

If you have attended one of my situational awareness programs you have learned how stress is a game-changer when it comes to situational awareness and decision making quality. Most employee training programs focus on developing cognitive knowledge and physical skills. Far less address the impact of stress on situational awareness and decision making and the seemingly irrational (some might even te...