Podcast appearances and mentions of Richard B Gasaway

 Dr. Richard B. Gasaway is the founder of firefighting consultancy Situational Awareness Matters and one of the nation's leading authorities on human error, situational awareness and high-risk decision-making processes. He has more than three decades of experience in fire, EMS, rescue and emergency management as a firefighter, EMT-paramedic, lieutenant, captain, assistant chief and fire chief. He joins us to explain what situational awareness is, why it matters, and what he thought of his experience with Opticom. 

This week we are talking to Dr. Richard Gasaway about decision making in critical situations. As Emergency Managers we are faced with making the hard choice in stressful situations with less than perfect information. Richard takes us through the process to make better decisions while keeping situational awareness. Guest BioDr. Richard B. Gasaway entered the fire service in 1979 and has served as firefighter, paramedic, lieutenant, captain, assistant chief and fire chief in 6 fire and EMS agencies in West Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota. After completing his 30-year fire service career, Chief Gasaway founded Situational Awareness Matters! a consulting and teaching organization dedicated to improving how individuals, teams and organizations make decisions in stressful environments.Chief Gasaway earned a doctor of philosophy degree while researching how individuals and teams use situational awareness to improve high- risk decision making. His research is rooted in understanding and sharing cognitive neuroscience and human error.Dr. Gasaway is a resident faculty member in the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and has been a long-standing instructor for the Executive Development Program at the Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute. He is also a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and is a Credentialed Chief Fire Officer through the Commission for Public Safety Excellence.A prolific speaker and author, Dr. Gasaway has contributed to more than 450 books, book chapters and journal articles on topics related to leadership, safety, situational awareness and decision making. His best selling books, Situational Awareness Volumes 1, 2 and 3, Fireground Command Decision Making and Situational Awareness for Emergency Response (Fire Engineering Books & Videos) serve as essential guides for both developing and experienced company officers and incident commanders. energy, humor filled presentations are a favorite with emergency service providers and have earned him over 2,200 program and keynote address invitations throughout the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.In 2014 Dr. Gasaway earned the National Speaker’s Association’s highest honor, Certified Speaking Professional. In 2016, he received the Next Level award from the National Speaker’s Association Minnesota Chapter for the exceptional growth his speaking business has achieved.Dr. Gasaway has been the recipient of several prestigious honors including the American Heart Association’s Phoenix Award, the C. B. Shingleton Academic Scholarship, the William J. Litzinger Outstanding Instructor Award, and the British Fire Journal – W.L. Gore Research Excellence Award.Chief Gasaway hosts the SAMatters Radio podcast show (available on iTunes and Stitcher Radio). The show features close call survivor stories and shares lessons on how to improve situational awareness and high risk decision making. The show has been downloaded over 250,000 times making it one of the most popular safety-oriented podcast shows on the Internet.Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richgasaway/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAMattersTwitter: https://twitter.com/RichGasawayWebsite: https://www.richgasaway.com/AdvertisersTitan HST www.titanhst.comSitch Radio www.sitchradio.com

Dr. Richard B. Gasaway entered the fire service in 1979 and has served as firefighter, paramedic, lieutenant, captain, assistant chief and fire chief in 6 fire and EMS agencies in West Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota. After completing his 30-year fire service career, Chief Gasaway founded Situational Awareness Matters! a consulting and teaching organization dedicated to improving how individuals, teams and organizations make decisions in stressful environments. Chief Gasaway earned a doctor of philosophy degree while researching how individuals and teams use situational awareness to improve high- risk decision making. His research is rooted in cognitive neuroscience and human factor analysis. Dr. Gasaway is a resident faculty member in the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and has been a long-standing instructor for the Executive Development Program at the Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute. He is also a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and is a Credentialed Chief Fire Officer through the Commission for Public Safety Excellence. A prolific speaker and author, Dr. Gasaway has contributed to more than 450 books, book chapters and journal articles on topics related to leadership, safety, situational awareness and decision making. His best selling books, Situational Awareness Volumes 1, 2 and 3, Fireground Command Decision Making and Situational Awareness for Emergency Response (Fire Engineering Books & Videos) serve as essential guides for both developing and experienced company officers and Situational Awareness Matters!incident commanders. His high-energy, humor filled presentations are a favorite with emergency service providers and have earned him over 2,200 program and keynote address invitations throughout the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2014 Dr. Gasaway earned the National Speaker’s Association’s highest honor, Certified Speaking Professional. In 2016, he received the Next Level award from the National Speaker’s Association Minnesota Chapter for the exceptional growth his speaking business has achieved. Dr. Gasaway has been the recipient of several prestigious honors including the American Heart Association’s Phoenix Award, the C. B. Shingleton Academic Scholarship, the William J. Litzinger Outstanding Instructor Award, and the British Fire Journal – W.L. Gore Research Excellence Award. Chief Gasaway hosts the SAMatters Radio podcast show (available on iTunes and Stitcher Radio. The show features close call survivor stories and shares lessons on how to improve situational awareness and high risk decision making. The show has been downloaded over 100,000 times making it one of the most popular fire service safety-oriened podcast shows on the Internet. http://www.samatters.com

In this episode, Dr. Richard B. Gasaway responds to five listener questions. Tune in as he shares the answers and provides some best practices for developing and maintaining strong situational awareness while working in high-risk, high consequence environments.   Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com   612-548-4424

  Hello and welcome to episode 013 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I am your host, Rich Gasaway.       The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments.       The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.       EPISODE OUTLINE       1.In the feature segment we’ll talk about training for failure, how it happens and I’ll offer some advice for how to overcome it. I’ll also include some discussion questions you can have amongst your members about training and whether there may be opportunities for improvement.       2.And we’ll share a near-miss report where a crew cut through the floorboard of a vehicle and into the gas tank – not on accident – on purpose.           FEATURE TOPIC       There are probably few things I say to a speaker that raises their ire more than:  You may be training your members to fail. I understand why an instructor would not want to hear that. No instructor wants a member to fail. Even more so, no instructor wants to be implicated for being the one responsible for training the member failure. This is especially true when failure results in a casualty. Nonetheless, it is happening more often than I would like to see. How do I know? Let me explain.       Training for failure   The concept of training for failure is rooted in the notion that field performance of tasks mirror training. You have heard the phrase: We are creatures of habit. And there is nothing that makes behavior revert to habits quicker than stress. As stress levels increase, the brain transitions from rational/logical information processing to intuitive/instinctive processing.       This is when performance becomes automatic and driven by training and habits. Much of the knowledge and many of the skills needed by responders in an emergent situation must be recalled and applied almost instantly. Training is the foundation that sets you up for success… or failure. The speed and accuracy of your recall of cognitive memory and muscle memory will hold the key to your success, and perhaps, your survival.       Types of memory       You have many types of memory. More, in fact, than I have time to talk about in this episode. The two memories I want to talk about are cognitive memory and muscle memory. Cognitive memory is your storage and recall of information (e.g., names, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.). Committing cognitive information to memory through repetition improves your chances of recalling information quickly and accurately. Think of your recall of the multiplication tables you learned in elementary school as a good example. For most of us, the answer to nine-times-eight comes quickly and naturally – no conscious thought required.       The second memory important to this discussion is muscle memory. This memory is your storage and recall of body movement (e.g., how to ride a bicycle, how to brush your teeth, etc.). Similar to cognitive memory, committing muscle movements to memory through repetition improves your chances of recalling the physical movements to perform a physical task quickly and accurately. Think of your ability to play any sport with reasonable competency as an example. Practice trains your muscles on how to perform accurately when you are in the game – no conscious thought required.       Cognitive memory failures       There are many ways in which your cognitive memory can be an asset during high-stress, high-consequence events. This is especially true when time is compressed and you are forced to recall things quickly. In the mayhem of an emergency is not the place to be tapping your finger against the side of your head thinking: What was the third step in that five-step process we learned about how to handle this situation? This is where repetition in learning becomes critical. However, if you want to improve your ability to recall cognitive lessons in an emergency situation, then learn the lesson in a simulated environment as similar to the real environment as possible. This is known as state-dependent (or context dependent) learning.       While it may be impractical, maybe even impossible, to train responders on everything they need to know in a field setting, it is entirely possible to practice recall of the information you are taught in a classroom when you are in a field setting. Practice and recall in a simulated environment that mirrors the stress of the real work environment will improve recall of the information when it may be needed most… in the same environment it was practiced in.       Muscle memory failures       Like cognitive memory, there are many ways in which muscle memory can be an asset to emergency responders operating in high-risk, high-consequence environments. And like cognitive recall, the compression of time and the immediate need for action can require the muscles to react quickly, dare I say it – instinctively – to a situation.       One of the biggest ways I see instructors training responders to fail is by giving verbal instructions for physical tasks without requiring the responders to physically perform the task. The scenario may go something like this: When you get out there in the field, remember that when confronted with this situation, you will want to _______ (fill in the blank with whatever the physical task is). There is a fundamental flaw with this type of learning.       Muscles only learn from muscle movement. Muscles do not learn from verbal instructions. The only way for you to learn how to perform a physical task with any kind of competency is to move! – to physically perform the task. An instructor can talk to you all day long about what you are supposed to do but until your muscles move in practice, they are not learning. Then, when your muscles do move in practice, it is important the movements are right.       A hypothetical example       Let us use an example of a responder who learns how to perform a task using one type of equipment in training but the training division is using old equipment because they, most unfortunately, get the hand-me-downs that are no longer in-service. So the recruit learns cognitive memory (i.e., the recall of the steps needed to complete the task using the old equipment) and muscle memory (i.e., the physical movements necessary to complete that task, again using the old equipment). Learning has occurred.       Unfortunately, however, in this example the field equipment does not match the training equipment. The higher the stress, the more likely the responder is to revert back to memory and habits taught in training. This holds the potential to either cause multiple errors in performance or there is a risk the performance of the task will be significantly slower as the mind tries to reconcile the differences between how the responder was trained and how to perform in the real scenario. Both delays and errors are likely to occur.       In the real world       During the Training for Failure program, I have had the opportunity to discuss this problem with thousands of responders, business leaders and industrial safety managers. I never have to look far or dig deep to find real examples for how people are being trained to fail.       The reactions I get to this revelation can be a real mixed bag. As I provide the real life examples using participants in my class some instructors begin to look as though they have just seen a ghost. Some are stunned into silence. Some feverishly write down notes. Sadly though, some instructors glare at me with anger and try to defend their training methodologies and practices.   Instructors who go on the defensive say things to me like: We do not have the time to train the way you are proposing. I cannot argue with that response. I do not claim to know the time constraints an instructor is under in his or her individual organization. All I am simply saying is training in ways that do not mirror real life scenarios is a set-up for failure. A lack of time to train properly will  not fix the problem. It simply explains why a responder may have been trained to fail.       In some instances, time is not the culprit in training for failure. Rather, it is a lack of knowledge on the part of the instructor about how the brain learns and how information is recalled, especially under stress. There is a fundamental flaw in the educational methodologies curriculum in most instructor and safety programs I have seen. The programs fail to teach the neuroscience behind how the brain learns and recalls. This can, in turn, impact how the instructor teaches students.       Advice       I have several tangible pieces of advice on how to combat training for failure. Much of what I have to say on this may run counter to the established paradigms of instructors so I can only wish (with fingers crossed) that instructors will let down their protective guards and take this advice with its intended benefit – to help you improve the safety of your responders. This advice is not a damnation of your existing ways of training.       First, stop judging the performance of others when they do things that seem inappropriate. I once took a class where an instructor showed one video after another of responders doing what, in his words, were stupid things. I watched and listened with a heavy heart. For not only was this instructor judging the performance of others harshly and unfairly, he was also teaching his students to do the same thing. The fact is, when you are judging the performance of others you cannot, simultaneously, be the student.       As I sat there and watched this program I so much wanted to blurt out: So why do you think those responders thought that what they were doing at that moment in time made sense… or why they thought it was the right thing to do? I am sure I would have stunned the room into silence and embarrassed the instructor. This would have, in turn, likely earned me an angered response. No good would have come from that.       The lesson here is to stop judging others when things go wrong and start seeking to understand why it made sense to them to be doing what they were doing. They were either trained to do it the way they were doing it or they were not trained at all and were improvising based on their assumption that it would work. No worker performs unsafe acts with the purposeful intent of getting hurt. Understanding why and how bad things happen begins when we stop judging others.       When the class was over I waited around for the students to leave and then I approached the instructor and asked him why he thought those responders in his videos were doing the things they did. His response floored me. He said: Because they are stupid (expletive). I did not know what to say. I mustered the courage to ask my second question.       Did he ever consider the possibility those firefighters were trained to fail. If they were trained to do what they did their instructors should be fired –  came the indignant response. Should an instructor whose never been taught about how the brain learns be fired for teaching the best way they know how? That does not seem very fair to me. An instructor training responders to fail is likely only training others the same way they had been trained.   The second solution I am going to offer is to invite an independent evaluation of your training program. Why independent? Because sometimes you are too close to the problem to see the problem. If you knew you were training responders to fail, you would change the way you trained your responders. You would not need someone to point it out to you.       The key to this solution is to ensure the evaluator you select is not from your agency and they understand how responders are trained to fail. Now, before you think this paragraph is some kind of informercial to have you hire me to do an evaluation of your department… it is not. There are plenty of resources available to you and some may be local to you. The important thing is you begin to see where the shortcomings are in your training program and start to fix them.       The third solution I am going to offer is to avoid the trap of believing you can train responders how to do something one way in training and then tell them, or expect them, to do it differently when they are in the field. I hear this often. Recruits are told: We are going to train you how we are required to here in the academy but when you get out into the street they will teach you how it is really done.       Would not it make better sense to teach how it is really done in the academy? Why the disconnect? Either the way the academy is teaching has not kept up with best practices used in the field or the field performance has drifted away from the best practices taught in the academy. Regardless of how it has occurred… it is a set-up for failure.       Discussions       1. Discuss examples of how responders in your organization may have been trained to fail and offer tangible solutions for how to fix the problem.       2. Locate some videos on the Internet of responders doing what seems to be stupid things at emergency scenes. Instead of judging their performance, ask: Why did what they were doing make sense to them at that moment in time. Seeking to understand the basis of behavior is where the real learning begins.   3. Discuss how to evaluate your training program to ensure your responders are being trained for success.       CLOSE CALL SURVIVOR STORY       SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED       This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.       Flammable atmosphere created by cutting a gas tank   May 21, 2014       Event Description   Two separate fire departments responded to a vehicle on fire in the driveway of a single-family dwelling. There were two other vehicles that were exposures and the vehicle on fire was approximately 30 feet away from the house. The initial attack was fast and successful and the majority of the fire was knocked down. However, the gas tank on the vehicle was leaking and a small fire continued to burn as a result.       Additional resources were requested, but were denied by the on-scene incident commander. The decision was made to cut the floorboard of the vehicle, directly above the gas tank, and flood it with water. The cut was initiated and completed. Application of foam and dry chemical were completed and the fire went out.       The near-miss came during the cutting of the floor. The vapors were released as the tank was opened, causing an optimal environment for the gas to ignite and or explode. A safety officer was never assigned and this person could have stopped the actions that were assigned by the incident commander.   Lessons learned   The tactic of cutting a gas tank with a saw should never be done. The saw itself is an ignition source and the cut releasing flammable vapors was not smart.       You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com       If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:   www.CloseCallSurvivor.com and click on the Contact Us link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.       INFORMATION       If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.       If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.       If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!       Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.           CLOSING       Well, that is it. Episode 13 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.       If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.       You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.       Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.       Post Closing Message       You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com       Show Sponsor   Midwest Fire   Midwestfire.com       Situational Awareness Matters! website   www.SAMatters.com       On-Line Academy   http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/       Upcoming Events Schedule   http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/       Books and Videos (Store)   http://www.samatters.com/store/       Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System   http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/       Close Call Survivor Website   www.CloseCallSurvivor.com       Contact Rich Gasaway   www.RichGasaway.com   Support@RichGasaway.com   612-548-4424      

Hello and welcome to episode 12 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I am your host, Rich Gasaway.   The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments.   The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.   On this episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Alan Predmore, the fire chief in Buckley, Washington. I have had the opportunity to deliver multiple programs for the Buckley Fire Department over the past five years and this past February Chief Predmore invited me out to talk with the students in their recruit academy about situational awareness.   During that discussion, it was noted that a recruit with strong situational awareness may see something that has been overlooked by their officer or the incident commander and, when this occurs, the recruit may not, for a variety of reasons, speak up.   I shared with the class how this was a problem in aviation and how flight crew members were taught, using crew resource management techniques, to speak up when there is a concern. I suggested that fire  departments might benefit from having a code word (or phrase) that, once uttered, would alert the recipient of the message there is a safety concern.   Chief Predmore was in the room during my discussion with the recruits and this message got his wheels turning and got him wondering what he could do to alleviate any concerns a recruit firefighter – or any firefighter for that matter – would have about speaking up in the presence of a concern. From that the phrase – The pigs are eating lemons – was created. Let’s listen in as Chief Predmore tells us how this unusual phrase came about and how it’s already been used once with exceptional results.   INFORMATION   If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.   If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.   If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.     CLOSING   Thank you to Buckley Fire Chief Alan Predmore for sharing the importance of knowing when the pigs are eating lemons.   Well, that is it. Episode 12 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.   Post Closing Message   You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Show Sponsor Branding Iron Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations brandingiron.com 423-202-3252 Interview Guest Alan Predmore, Fire Chief Buckley Fire Department http://www.cityofbuckley.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424

On this episode I had the opportunity to tour the Seattle Fire Department training facility and I sat down and talked with Phil Jose, the training chief for the Seattle Fire Department. During the interview, Chief Jose shared some of the things he is focused on to improve the situational awareness and decision making abilities of Seattle firefighters including:   1.Conducting Post Incident Analyses (PIA) of major fire incidents, defined as one that results in a firefighter injury, a civilian fatality, or a 3rd alarm or greater.   2.Their efforts toward officer development despite the challenges of operating short staffed (roughly 100 vacant firefighter positions).   3.How they are working to instill the core competencies of Trust, Competence and Vision in their members.   4.How they are working with company officers who would be arriving first-in at fires to develop situational awareness and make high quality decisions.   INFORMATION   If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.   If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.   If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.   CLOSING   Well, that is it. Episode 11 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.   ** Post Closing Message   You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com     Listener/member feedback may be shared at the end of the show.     Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424  

On this episode I interview Jack Sullivan, Director of Training for the Responder Safety Institute. The mission of the Institute is to reduce highway incidents involving first responders and to minimize the impact of responders who are involved in these incidents.   Our discussion was recorded at the National Volunteer Fire Council Summit in Myrtle Beach where Jack was presenting on highway incident safety and I was presenting program on Thirty deadly situational awareness barriers.   Thank you to the fifty-plus people who attended my session and for sharing your wonderful feedback. The one seasoned veteran who noted: “I realized I don’t know what I thought I knew” is a common response to this program. Rest easy, my friend. I am trying very hard to change that… through the articles on the website, the on-line academy, the books, the videos, the live programs and of course, through this radio show. Stick with me and we’ll change that for you.   During this interview, Jack shares:   1.How a seemingly routine incident caused Jack to lose a friend and how this wake up call inspired him to get involved in educating responders on roadway incidents.   2.How the Institute uses case studies, dash cam videos, and department of transportation videos to build awareness of roadway incidents.   3.The challenges of tracking roadway near-miss and injury incidents.   4.How the motoring public today lack respect for authority and first responders and how they may suffer from what Jack refers to as the four Ds: Drowsy, Distracted, Drugged and/or Dumb. I guess we could through Disrespectful in there and make it five Ds.   5.How a me-first attitude, texting, talking on phones and GPS are creating huge problems. Sadly, some firefighters are among the D-drives when operating their personal vehicles.   6.Why it is so important to build relations and rapport with other public safety agencies in advance of responding to roadway incidents to avoid incident scene conflicts – including the involvement of partner agencies in the development of joint roadway incident response standard operating guidelines.   7.The upcoming National Traffic Incident Management and Responder Safety Training Program train-the-trainer gathering where over 260 responders are converging on the campus of the National Fire Academy to develop cross-agency collaboration.   8.How you can access the responder safety learning network where you can register and obtain free training on roadway safety.   INFORMATION   If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.   If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.   If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.   CLOSING   Thank you Jack Sullivan from the Responder Safety Institute for taking some time to sit down with me to discuss your passion for roadway safety. I will put a link to the Institute’s website in the show notes.   I'd like to share some feedback I have received on the radio show and thank you for searching the show on iTunes, subscribing and leaving your feedback and five-star review. This will definitely help others find the show.   This feedback comes from Firefighter505   You must take time to listen to Dr. (Chief) Gasaway’s podasts! More life saving information for us! Thanks iTunes for carrying a podcast that will change Firefighters lives, and ultimately save many more lives!   And this feedback was shared by Alex Hickey of the North Kitsap Fire and Rescue     This is a great style of podcast done right. The doctor has a great presentation style and there are many ‘takeaways’ from each episode. My favorite part is the portion of each episode when he reviews a near-miss/close call. Too often, these types of incidents are ignored by training FFs who choose to focus only on LODDs (which are by no means a bad thing to focus on, but we can also learn from our near misses!!!). What are you waiting for, listen now and subscribe!   Well, that is it. Episode 10 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.   ** Post Closing Message   You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   ResponderSafety.com Jack Sullivan, Director of Training ResponderSafety@gmail.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424  

  In episode 2, I spoke a little bit about complacency. The feedback was awesome, thank you everyone for that.   1. In this episode I will continue on that topic and share a how a false alarm mindset can lead to complacency.   2. In the near-miss report we will share an incident where complacency caused a firefighter to fall through a weakened floor at a residential dwelling fire.   3. And in the question/answer segment, we will explore why the “Blind Search” drill may be a set-up for failure and consequence.     FEATURE TOPIC   Another False Alarm: A Tale of Complacency Complacency is a big deal for first responders because it impacts your situational awareness on multiple levels. I would like to give every responder the benefit of the doubt that if or when they have found him or herself being complacent that it was not happening on purpose. In other words, I hope every responder desires to be diligent and alert. Yet, complacency still gets us. I recently had an up close and personal experience with this that I’d like to share.   If you follow my Twitter or Facebook updates you know this: I travel. A lot. I am sort of living my own version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (except I am not sharing my bed with John Candy. Nuf said).   The popularity of the Mental Management of Emergencies and Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder Program (as part of the “Get in the Loop” Tour) keeps me nomadic about 200 days of the year. Trust me, that is not a complaint. I absolutely love sharing my message with first responders. Even more, I love the feedback that the message is making a difference. For that, I thank you very much.   Recently on one of my trips I was startled awake at 2:53am by a fire alarm activation. The alarm only rang about 10 seconds. Knowing what I know about night clerks at hotels, I suspected the alarm had been prematurely silenced. My suspicion was confirmed when I went to the lobby and heard the clerk on the telephone telling someone the alarm panel is indicating the fire pump is running. I was the only patron of the hotel who came to the lobby.   Another False Alarm   As the building was sprinklered and there was no smoke in the lobby, I poured a cup of coffee to see how all of this was going to play out in part. I was partly curious and partly angry that the clerk silenced the alarm without investigating the source.   Then, the fire department arrived. Three firefighters dismounted the engine and entered the lobby and my disappointment with the situation rose to an entirely new level. Every member of the crew had the flaps on their coats open, no helmets, no SCBA, no tools, no water can, no TIC (which, in all fairness they may not have had on that apparatus). They were no more prepared to fight a fire than I would have been if I came down to the lobby wearing Nomex boxer briefs.   And where were all the other guests? Surely I was not the only person who heard the alarm. But I was probably the only person in the hotel to have witnessed night clerks silencing alarms to avoid disrupting the slumbering guests.   The Triple Whammy of Complacency   There were three examples of complacency witnessed in a span of ten minutes.   Complacent Act #1: The night clerk was complacent for silencing the alarm too quickly, assuming the activation to be another false alarm.   Complacent Act #2: The patrons of the hotel only heard an alarm that lasted ten seconds, leading them to assume the alarms were just another false alarm.   Complacent Act #3: The fire department responded to the alarm with their guard down. Way down. I could tell by their movement, demeanor, comments and attire. For them, this was another false alarm.   I did not sleep well during what was left of my night. As I lay there I imagined how the outcome of this seemingly benign event could have been tragically different if only a few circumstances were different.   A Culture of Complacency   Whose job is it to create and nurture a culture that prohibits complacency? Is it the senior management, training officers, company officers or individual firefighters? I would say it is the job of everyone because no one is exempt from the potential consequences. It is evident to me that a complacent co-worker may be more dangerous than any broken piece of equipment on your apparatus. Equipment problems are easy to fix. Repair or replace. But when co-workers have complacent mindsets it can be much more challenging to repair or replace.   The Non-Complacent Fire Alarm Response   Contrast this to a similar experience I had during a visit to another fire department a few months ago. During that visit there was also a fire alarm activation in my hotel during the night (This may seem like an odd stroke of bad luck, but keep in mind I spend hundreds of nights in a hotel room). My observations here, however, were VERY different.   These firefighters came off the truck with a “working fire” mindset. No complacency to be found here. It was all business. Full gear, SCBA, tools, water, flashlights & TIC. Just as it should be. Kudos to this fire department for setting a great example.   Coincidentally, the hotel clerk did not silence the alarm and the lobby was full of patrons. I suspect that has much to do with the fire marshal of this particular department being proactive and educating the desk clerks on how to handle alarm activations.   Advice   The problem with complacency is it can creep into how the members of your  department do things in a sneaky, almost unnoticeable away. That is, unnoticeable until some nerdy retired firefighter turned cognitive neuroresearcher happens to be hanging out in the lobby of your hotel when you have a fire alarm. He notices.   If your mindset leads to believe you are responding to just another fire alarm, then your guard will be down. Not only can this cause you to be physically ill-prepared for the potential of the call, it can also cause you to be mentally ill-prepared for the potential dangers the call holds. Early in my career I was taught to prepare and respond to every call with the mindset that what I will find the worst-case scenario situation and then to get into the mental mindset to be ready for it.   Ironically, as I have so often talked about in my articles, the repetition of physical and mental preparation for the worst case scenario builds both cognitive and muscle memory. This means my mental and physical preparation that all responses held the high-potential of risk… would become a habit – my automatic scripted, subconscious performance under stress. This would pay off for me, in spades, throughout my career and it will for you too.   Conversely, if the mindset becomes one of complacency. It is just another fire alarm triggers the mind and the body behaves accordingly. In this state of low arousal the senses neither capture nor comprehend clues and cues that can form situational awareness. Being on-guard helps improve situational awareness.   During my research I interviewed a commander who responded to just another fire alarm to a building they had been to numerous times in the past. His mindset was one of complacency. Arrive and reset the alarm was his mindset. But this time, it was a working fire with people trapped. He described the impact vividly. For those with my Fireground Command Decision Making book, you know I wrote about this incident and the impact it had on this officer.   This commander admitted having a very difficult time recovering from his complacent mindset and getting geared up for the task he was facing. His crew was also complacent, just another fire alarm, mindset which compounded the problem.   Respond to every call for service as if it holds the potential to cause you great harm. Be vigilant in your capturing of clues and cues and understanding what they mean. No responder ever goes to a call thinking it is going to be their last. But many catastrophic outcomes result from complacent mindsets.   Discussions   1. Discuss a time when you were complacent on a call and the potential impact it could have had on you or other responders.   2. Discuss some specific strategies you use to avoid complacency as a first responder.   3. Discuss some strategies that can be used to help others over the affection of complacency.   4. Discuss with co-workers how you can help each other avoid complacent mindsets.     SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED     This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.     We were dispatched to a structure fire at a tri-level style home with a well-involved fire on the lower level. Upon completing a 360, it was noted that the fire was auto exposing to the second floor and attic space. Once the body of the fire was knocked down, my partner and I proceeded to the second floor to check for exposure. I entered a room and was walking toward the window when the floor gave way, causing me to drop into the room of origin. My partner called a mayday and, after regaining my composure, I notified command that I was OK and in verbal and sight contact with my partner and proceeded out of the structure.     LESSONS LEARNED   The biggest lesson learned was we had become complacent. Training… and reinforcing… that training is also important. Always be aware of the situation and surroundings.     Why is it so easy for the reporter of this incident to see his errors after the fact, yet not in the moment. This is the nature of flawed situational awareness… the inability to see the bad things coming… in time to change bad outcomes. Even though this firefighter was not seriously injured, the outcome could have been catastrophic. Anytime fire is burning below where firefighters are operating, the structure is weakening. Heat causes structural components to decompose.   As they decompose they weaken. All the while, the enemy of every building – gravity – is trying to kill the building by pushing down on it with a constant force. If gravity had its way, every building would be flattened. But it does not because the components of construction hold the building up against the forces of gravity. Fire-weakened structures are no match for the downward force of gravity. Add the weight of contents and firefighters and you are able to forecast the outcome, which is Level 3 situational awareness.     You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com     If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:   www.CloseCallSurvivor.com    Click on the contact us link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.     INFORMATION     If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.     If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy.     The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!     Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.     SAMatters COMMUNITY Question     This question comes from an attendee of a Mental Management of Emergencies class in Ventura County, California.     QUESTION: If sending firefighters into a training scenario with a blacked out facepiece is training for failure, tell us why and what should we do to fix the problem?     ANSWER: The failure does not come from training firefighters to operate in a zero visibility conditions. In fact, that's an essential skill for firefighters. The failure comes from blacking out facepieces and sending firefighters IN to training fires.     As you understand how the brain learns, the solution becomes easier to comprehend. When conditions rapidly go to zero visibility with the presence of high heat, the firefighters are in pre-flashover conditions. We do not want firefighters continuing on the mission of search or fire attack in the presence of flashover conditions. We want them to leave the environment. But many do not.     They stay true to the mission and forge onward. This is because they were trained to do that. The fix, in a nutshell, is to send firefighters into training situations with good visibility. Then at some point blacken out the facepieces and teach them how to get out. This small change is enough to shift the mindset from one of being true to a mission of going inward and onward to one of getting out - survival!     CLOSING     Well, that is it. Episode 8 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.     If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.     You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.     Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.     ** Post Closing Message     You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424  

  On this episode we celebrate the International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week. My guest is Ryan Pennington, webmaster at Views from the Jumpseat and host of Jumpseat Radio. We are talking about the International Fire and EMS Safety and Health Week and its theme: Train like you fight!   INFORMATION   If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.   If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.   If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.   CLOSING   Well, that is it. This special episode of SAMatters Radio is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.     You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com     Views from the Jumpseat Bloghttp://viewsfromthejumpseat.com International Fire and EMS Safety and Health Weekhttp://safetyandhealthweek.org   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424      

Hello and welcome to episode 7 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I’m your host, Rich Gasaway. The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high stress, high consequence environments. Our mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to prevent bad outcomes.     I am broadcasting to you today from my Situational Awareness Matters Get in the Loop Tour Stop in Erwin, Tennessee where I am training 950 employees from Nuclear Fuel Services on situational awareness and the challenges faced by industrial workers. NFS processes the uranium that powers the nuclear navy. I am honored they have engaged me in a multi-year contract to help improve the safety of their employees. Thank you NFS for this opportunity.     On this episode we’ll talk about:   1. The Line of Duty Death of Asheville Fire Captain Jeff Bowen.   2. In the near-miss lesson learned we’ll talk about an incident where flawed situational awareness led to firefighters being caught in a ceiling collapse.   3. And in the Question/Answer segment we’ll take a program attendee question about fatigue.   FEATURE TOPIC   Healing and growing from tragedy   I had an opportunity to present along side Asheville Fire Chief Scott Burnette at the North Carolina Society of Fire Rescue Instructors Conference. This opportunity came as a result of another wonderful opportunity that Chief Burnette extended to me to conduct facilitated debriefings following the line-of-duty death of Captain Jeff Bowen. During the debriefing process I was able to learn, first-hand, of the challenges and opportunities the department faced during this horrific event on July 28, 2011. ChiefBurnette’s presentation (which preceded mine) was titled Fourteen Minutes, Thirteen Seconds. It was so named for the time it took rescue crews to locate and remove Captain Bowen following the Mayday call. Chief Burnette told the audience those brief minutes passed like hours.  The visit and presentation also gave me the opportunity to visit again with Firefighter Jay Bettencourt. Jay is the firefighter who was with Captain Bowen when he went down on the fifth floor of the medical office building. Jay’s acts of heroism to rescue his brother left me awe struck. Jay is a humble man. I am confident he would not see himself as a hero. Rather, he would characterize himself as a firefighter who was just doing his job. During my portion of the presentation, I focused on how we conducted the facilitated debriefings following the event.  I brought Jay to the front of the room and, standing beside Firefighter Bettencourt I told the audience. “Some day, my grand kids will ask me if I am a hero. I will tell them no. Grandpa is not a hero. But I have stood among them” and then looked to Jay. He received the most well-deserved standing ovation I have ever seen delivered.   Likewise, when Chief Burnette finished speaking he also received a standing ovation from the audience. Chief Burnette was very forthcoming with his assessment of the incident and the lessons learned. He’s such a humble leader. One that all of us should emulate. I did not envy the position he was in to give such a tough presentation in front of such a large audience. He remained poised and professional.   At one point Chief Burnette spoke of a dream he had in November where Captain Bowen appeared and walked the chief through the fire incident, step by step, and told him everything that happened. It was, by far, the most riveting story I had every heard. Ever! There can be no doubt for the Chief’s love and compassion for his firefighters. His commitment to learn every lesson possible from this tragedy is very apparent.   Just two weeks ago I had the opportunity to revisit my friends in Asheville. This was the first visit since my facilitated debriefing last fall. The purpose of this visit was to be briefed by the Post Incident Analysis teams. I was very impressed with the amount of work that had been done based on the recommendations in my report.   All too often I encounter fire departments who’ve experienced a line of duty death and, as a result, have changed nothing. Some are in denial. Some say that if they address the issues they will be dishonoring the fallen. This often leaves the firefighters anger and disappointed because they all know things went wrong and there are lessons to learn… not to dishonor the fallen, but to honor the fallen. We owe it to every fallen firefighter to learn every possible lesson about how the tragedy unfolded and how to prevent it from happening again.   Clearly, The Asheville Fire Department is an organization that is taking the lesson from the tragedy of July 28, 2011 and making real changes to improve their safety and operations. Their actions will become a blueprint for other departments to follow. To say I’m impressed is an understatement. This is a first-rate organization that is well on its way to healing and growing out of tragedy. Congratulations Asheville Fire Department.   SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED     This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.     We responded to assist another fire department at a structure fire that was caused by a lightning strike. The fire was in the attic of a two-story home of approximately 3000 square feet. The first due engine had pulled two 1 3/4" lines and a 2 1/2" line with a cellar nozzle. My crew went upstairs to assist with the fire attack. There was a very light haze of smoke on the second floor. After opening a hole in the ceiling, we put the 2 1/2" line with the cellar nozzle into the attic.     We then noticed the room next to us had a glow coming from under the door. As the attack team went to make entry into that room, the entire ceiling collapsed on top of us and visibility went to zero. One firefighter had their face-piece knocked off and we all were disoriented. Everyone made it out without injury.     LESSONS LEARNED   Be aware of what the conditions are around you. When you use a cellar nozzle in the attic, anticipating a collapse.     This near-miss serves as an example of flawed Level 3 situational awareness – where the crew had a flawed ability to predict, project, or forecast future outcomes based on current information. This often happens when personnel are operating in the moment with a fixation on the task and little thought is given to cause and effect.     When you are applying water, you are adding 8.35 pounds of weight into the structure for every gallon of water you apply. If you flow a 100 GPM nozzle for two minutes, that’s 1,670 pounds of water being loaded into the ceiling.     As you apply water, think… how much weight and I loading into the structure? Where is it going? Can the structure support the weight? What are the potential outcomes if it cannot? Can we anticipate those outcomes before they happen? Can we take action to prevent the bad outcome?     Level 3 situational awareness is developed by using past experience, past training and your imagination to envision future events. It’s the foundation of the mission ofSAMatters… to help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.     You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com     If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:    www.CloseCallSurvivor.com    Click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.   Peeling Back the Layers     Situational awareness is consistently identified as one of the leading contributing factors in firefighter near-miss events. Yet many firefighters who know, with confidence, they lost their situational awareness don’t understand how… or why… their situational awareness was impacted.   There are two essential reasons for this. First, many responders don’t understand what situational awareness is nor do they understand how to develop and maintain it. Second – and this can be a shocker for some – flawed situational awareness is not the root cause of a near-miss (or a casualty event for that matter). Flawed situational awareness is a SYMPTOM. 

   Let’s address the first issue – understanding what situational awareness is.   Situational awareness is your ability to capture and understand information about what is happening around you, in the context of place and time. Then being able to take the understanding of the information and make accurate predictions about future events before they occur. The acronym I created that may help you remember this is G-A-S.
   G – Gather information   A – Assess the information   S – Speculate on future events

   When you read a report (near-miss or casualty) that identifies flawed situational awareness as a contributing factor the first question you should ask is: “What flawed the situational awareness.” This is where the understanding of situational awareness becomes more complex. I have identified and researched over one hundred barriers to situational awareness. A barrier is anything that causes the loss of situational awareness or anything that keeps situational awareness from being restored once it is lost.   Asking probing questions can help you peel back the layers and get to the root cause. For example, asking: “What mission were the responders trying to accomplish at the time of the near-miss (or casualty)?” This starts the process of peeling back the layers to allow you to understand how a deep focus on a critical mission can cause a narrowing of attention to a limited number of clues and cues. I term this situational awareness barrier “Mission Myopia.” As you understand how mission myopia occurs and the consequences, you begin peeling back the layers and see how the same thing might happen to you. That is when the real learning occurs.

   Peeling back the layers takes the understanding of near miss and casualty events to a whole new level. In the book, Situational Awareness for Emergency Response (PennWell 2013, p.8) I offer the following questions to help you peel back the layers:
   .    What were the responders trying to accomplish at the time things went wrong?     .    What was the overall mission of the incident, and what role were the responders playing in advancing the mission when things went wrong?     .    Why did it make sense for the responder to be doing what they were doing at the moment things went wrong?     .    What task or objective were the responders focused on that kept them from seeing the bad outcome on the horizon?     .    Were there any distractions or interruptions that drew the responders’ attention away from their task?     .    Did the responders understand the overall incident goals and objectives, their roles in the mission, and how other individuals or teams were going to influence the outcome?     INFORMATION     If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.   If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy.   The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”     SAMatters COMMUNITY QUESTION     This question comes from an attendee of the Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder class in Indiana.     QUESTION: What is the impact of fatigue on first responder situational awareness?     ANSWER: Fatigue diminishes situational awareness significantly. The impact of fatigue on all aspects of mental performance are well-documented in research. I know this answer may not be popular with responders who work 24 or 48 hour shifts, but the science backs my assertion that the fatigued brain does not function as well as the rested brain.   Severe fatigue can have the same impact as alcohol, impairing coherent thought, gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Fatigue can impact reasoning, memory, recall and impact sight and hearing.     This is a great question and we’ll dedicate an upcoming episode to the topic of worker fatigue so look for that on the horizon.     CLOSING     Well, that’s it. Episode 7 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.     If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.     You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.     Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.     You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway.  If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website atRichGasaway.com     If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Situational Awareness for Emergency Response, visit SAMatters.com, click on the “Store” link and then the “Print Books” link. I personally sign every book purchased through my store as a show of appreciation for supporting my mission. The proceeds of all book and video sales are invested back into our mission and help ensure you can continue to receive valuable articles and radio show content for free.     NIOSH Line of Duty Death Report http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/pdfs/face201118.pdf   Asheville Fire Department website http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Departments/Fire.aspx   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424      

  On this episode we’ll talk 1. Briefly about the myth of multitasking 2. We’ll listen to an interview I recorded with a wildland firefighting safety officer with 40 years of experience on the line. 1. Developing the mindset of a Just Culture in the wildland firefighting community. 2. Why a culture of compliance won’t work. 3. How age brought wisdom and helped Wayne realize the need for instant gratification was far less important than the goal to bring everyone home in one piece. 4. His view on fire shelters and their limitations and why he says he would not carry one unless he was forced to and why he thinks the fire shelter is “a political piece of equipment.” 5. His Close Call Survivor Story on the Salmon River and how the situational awareness barrier of task fixation put him in a tight spot that, reflecting back, left a margin of less than 5 minutes between life and death.  He’s tell you how a “feeling of urgency” saved his life. This is what I refer to in the Mental Management of Emergencies class as “Intuition.” 6. Amazingly… as he was going through hell… he stopped and took pictures… literally. 7. Discussion of the challenges of the Yarnell fire investigation.   FEATURE TOPIC If a picture is worth a thousand words, a live demonstration may be worth ten thousand words. In a recent situational awareness and decision making class I was explaining to the participants the science behind why humans are such poor multitaskers. If course, when I do this there is always someone in the class who, for whatever reason, thinks they’re a great at multitasking. I love it when this happens because I’m prepared. For this scenario I set up an exercise where two people get to role play being in charge of an emergency. One of them is going to multitask (guess which one gets that dubious honor?) and the other one gets to perform only a single task. The multitasking person has to perform the same activities as the single tasking person and one additional (physical activity). The results are always predictable… a train wreck. The single tasking person’s performance is always nearly flawless while the performance of my multitasking participant always turns into a disaster. The multitasker forgets about 90% of the data they were supposed to remember and their performance is fraught with error. It’s sad and unfortunate. The simple fact is, the conscious human brain cannot multitask, plain and simple. This is backed up by science and the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Responders can be lulled into believing they are good multitaskers because they do it so often with so little consequence that it gives them the confidence to think they are good at it. Where, in reality, they’re not good at it and luck is the only thing standing in the way of a disaster. SOLUTION: Concede to the vulnerabilities of the human brain. Acknowledge that multitasking is a myth and avoid it by focusing on performing one critical task at a time. Proper staffing plays a big role in efforts to avoid multitasking. Preloading an incident with the proper number of responders will reduce the exposure to the need to perform multiple concurrent tasks. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Why do people think they are good multitaskers when, in fact, their brain cannot multitask at all? 2. What can first responders do to avoid multitasking during high stress, high consequence operational periods? 3. Describe how your situational awareness has been impacted by multitasking. Wayne Williams Interview   1. Developing the mindset of a Just Culture in the wildland firefighting community. 2. Why a culture of compliance won’t work. 3. How age brought wisdom and helped Wayne realize the need for instant gratification was far less important than the goal to bring everyone home in one piece. 4. His view on fire shelters and their limitations and why he says he would not carry one unless he was forced to and why he thinks the fire shelter is “a political piece of equipment.” 5. His Close Call Survivor Story on the Salmon River and how the situational awareness barrier of task fixation put him in a tight spot that, reflecting back, left a margin of less than 5 minutes between life and death.  He’s tell you how a “feeling of urgency” saved his life. This is what I refer to in the Mental Management of Emergencies class as “Intuition.” 6. Amazingly… as he was going through hell… he stopped and took pictures… literally. 7. Discussion of the challenges of the Yarnell fire investigation. If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.   If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”   CLOSING That it. Episode 6 is complete. Thank you again to Wayne Williams from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for sharing his thoughts on wildland firefighter safety.  Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission. If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show. You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page. Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.   You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway.  If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Wayne Williams Email: WWilliams@MT.GOV   Just Culture Sydney Dekker    Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424    

  On this episode we’ll talk about… 1. The role of emotions in decision making. 2. I’ll share a report about a  first responder who had a near-miss with a chain saw. 3. And we’ll talk about why so few first responders and industrial workers are being taught about situational awareness.   FEATURE TOPIC How you decide to do something… or not do something is a complex process that involves multiple brain regions. Are decisions made with the rational brain or the intuitive brain? The answer, surprisingly, is both. Rational judgment allows you to process facts and data essential to good decision making. Intuition allows you to tap into past training and experiences and quickly glean the lessons of your successes and failures – lessons seeded deep into memory by… emotions. The role of emotions Some think that the best decisions are rational decisions, devoid of all emotion. This is a fallacy. In fact, it would be impossible to make a good decision if you were somehow able to shut off the emotional control center of your brain. The role of the emotional control center on decision making was well documented in misfortune of Phineas Gage. On September 13, 1848, Gage was directing a work gang blasting rock while preparing the roadbed for a railroad outside the town of Cavendish, Vermont. Setting a blast involved boring a hole deep into an outcropping of rock; adding blasting powder, a fuse, and sand; then compacting this charge into the hole using the tamping iron. Gage was doing this around 4:30 p.m. when (possibly because the sand was omitted) the iron "struck fire" against the rock and the powder exploded. Rocketed out of the hole, the iron "entered on the [left] side of [Gage's] face ... passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head."‍ In the process, his prefrontal cortex suffered heavy damage. My Lesson, Sans the Brain Jargon During the Mental Management of Emergencies program I spend a great deal of time demystifying the process for how we make decisions under stress. But I don’t try to impress attendees with a bunch of neuroscience terminology. The lessons are way to important for that. While I’ve intensely studied brain science, I am first, and foremost, a first responder. My 30+ years on the line allows me to apply the science in a way that practitioners, like yourself, can easily understand and relate to. Metacognition One of the “jargon” terms used by Lehrer in his book “How We Decide” is metacognition. What does that mean? Merely this: Metacognition means being consciously aware of your own thought processes. As it relates to the Mental Management of Emergencies, it means having a conscious awareness of: 1. How you make decisions under stress 2. How you develop and maintain situational awareness at emergency scenes 3. The barriers that can impact your situational awareness 4. How to know you’re losing your situational awareness before it’s too late 5. How to regain your situational awareness if you are losing it As first responders the more conscious awareness you have about your decision making and situational awareness processes and the barriers that can impact your situational awareness, the better you can be at managing and overcoming the challenges. That is what my mission is all about. “Get in the Loop” Tour In 2012 I launched the “Get in the Loop” situational awareness tour to get this critical message out to first responders and industrial workers who make high-stress, high consequence decisions. To date, the Tour has stopped on four continents and the message has been delivered to more than 38,000 program attendees. Why did I call it the “Get in the Loop” tour? Because first responders and industrial workers are, for the most part, out of the loop when it comes to understanding the how the brain makes decisions and we form situational awareness. Most people don’t have the time (or perhaps the interest) to read up on all the research. No worries though. I’ve done it for you. My program is designed to get you “Into the Loop” in way that’s strives to be both entertaining and educational. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED   This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.   TURNOUT PANTS DAMAGED WHILE USING CHAIN SAW NEAR-MISS EVENT, WITH PROPERTY DAMAGE ONLY Monday, July 29, 2013   Engine [1] responded to a motor vehicle collision with injuries. Upon arrival, there was a large tree branch that had fallen on a mid- size SUV. The tree was completely blocking access to the road. It was estimated to be approximately 20-25" in length, and up to three feet in diameter. The driver walked inside a nearby residence with minor injuries. EMS assessed the patient and obtained a patient refusal. A Battalion Chief arrived on scene, and asked the officer to evaluate the branch to see if engine [1]’s crew could remove it or if landscape services would be needed. The decision was made to remove the branch utilizing engine [1]’s personnel.   A firefighter started the chainsaw and the officer was positioned behind the firefighter as a Safety. The firefighter began cutting the smaller branches, and worked back towards the base of the tree. The firefighter was applying the chain brake between cuts earlier in the incident. It was dark, and flashlights were used to illuminate the working area. Approximately half of the branch was removed from the road way, when the officer felt something strike his left leg. The officer thought it was a branch and continued working. The tree branch was completely removed, and the road access was opened. The crew of engine [1] removed all of the pieces of wood from the road and placed the wood in the yard from which the tree fell. The crew also raked and swept the roadway removing the remaining debris. Engine [1] went available and returned to quarters.   Next shift, the officer was placing his gear on the truck when he noticed cuts on the outside liner of his bunker pants. The cuts were on the left pant leg and were consistent to the area that was struck while removing the tree. The pants were taken out of service. Safety was notified, and administrative paper work was completed.   LESSONS LEARNED -       To allow Landscape Services to continue in and complete the cutting operation instead of the engine crew -       The scene should have been better illuminated for a safer operation utilizing quartz or tower lighting. -       Allow the cutter a 10" safety perimeter, and only the cutter announces when it is to be entered after chain brake is applied. -       Minimum use of turnout pants for all members involved in cutting event. Administration is currently determining if chaps should be placed on fire apparatus. -       Training video on chain saw safety was recorded to be distributed throughout the department for transparency and increased awareness   You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com   And you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site: www.CloseCallSurvivor.com and click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.   INFORMATION If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.   If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”   SAMatters COMMUNITY Question   This question comes from a reader whose department hosted a Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop in 2012.   QUESTION: Recently, several members of my department attended a wildland firefighting program. On the first day the instructors never said a thing about situational awareness even though the topic is covered in the curriculum. On the second day the lead instructor asked the question: “What is situational awareness.” The room fell silent and then the instructor proceeded to explain situational awareness in a way that was lame and confusing and then promptly moved on to another topic.   The members from my department in the program asked several questions about SA. The instructors not only could not answer the questions, they seemed perturbed that we asked them any questions at all. How can we improve instructors' understanding of situational awareness?   ANSWER: The problem with teaching situational awareness is it's not exactly a simple concept to learn, yet alone teach. Many instructors haven't taken the time to learn the neuroscience essential to be a good instructor on the topic. It has taken me seven years of intense study to even begin to understand the complexities of situational awareness and I am learning new things daily. Sadly, some instructors simply won't say they don't know the answer. Or worse, they teach SA inappropriately.   I recently had a student tell me he was taught situational awareness at a conference by an instructor who was an attorney. The student told me it was disastrous and he left the session confused and angry. Unfortunately I have seen and heard of similar accounts to this one far to often. One of the goals of the Situational Awareness Matters! website is to help fix this problem. There is a huge gap between what most first responders and industrial workers know about situational awareness and what they need to know. I am trying to close that knowledge gap. While there are some educational materials for sale on my website, there are also more than 200 free articles on a wide range of situational awareness topics.   CLOSING   That it! Episode 5 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.   You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424    

  On this episode we’ll talk about…     1. The importance of completing a 360 degree size-up.     2. We’ll share a near-miss event where a combination of inexperience, freelancing, and assumptions led to a loss of accountability.     3. And we’ll address a community member’s question about how to develop expert knowledge in younger officers who are seeing less fires.     FEATURE TOPIC     Situational awareness starts with capturing clues and cues in your environment. It’s really quite a simple premise. To capture clues and cues requires seeing or hearing them. At a structure fire, the visual clues and cues occupy a finite environment- the building and the space around the building. I am nothing short of astounded by the number of firefighters telling me they don’t complete a 360° size up of a structure fire before making entry. I was inspired for this podcast topic from two recent accounts shared with me.   Into the basement we went   The first account came to me by way of a firefighter sharing a near-miss event with me following a Mental Management of Emergencies program. She was part of a crew of two that did not complete a 360° size up at a residential dwelling fire. They made entry through the front door and they fell through the floor and were trapped in the basement. As she recounted the details, I was reminded of a similar residential dwelling fire that killed two firefighters in Colerain Township, Ohio. The firefighter I spoke to, and her partner, fared much better as they were rescued and survived.    Getting yelled at for completing a 360° size up   The second account came to me by way of an email I received from a firefighter who offered up the topic for my upcoming situational awareness conference call training program for firefighters on June 19 (see the home page of SAMatters for details). Here’s what he wrote (less the parts I removed to ensure his confidentiality):   At my department the 360 is almost frowned upon. When we catch a job I always have the driver pull past the house to see 3 sides and then I try to do a walk around. It never fails I get yelled at to get in the fire. Now, I LOVE going into burning buildings but having lost a firefighter because he fell through the floor (because nobody did a walk around and saw the basement on fire) I feel a good walk around saves lives. I find myself peer pressured into just going into the fire.   360° size up should be standard practice   I am disappointed with how many fire departments have no written standard requiring a 360° size up. I am even more discouraged when I learn that departments have a standard but it is not practiced. I am appalled when firefighters share with me the practice is discouraged.   There are few things first responders can do to help build the foundation of situational awareness like conducting a proper size up. A 360° size up at a residential dwelling fire allows you to capture and process some very important clues. Not only can you see the conditions from all angles, but you can also observe important clues about construction, exit points and floor plan layouts.   Excuses for not completing a 360° size up   I’ve heard some creative explanations for why a responder would not complete a 360° size up. Included on the list are some obvious (expected) response and some that less obvious (surprising).   1. “The building was too large and it would have taken too much time for me to walk around it.”   2. “There was no access to the back side of the structure.”   3. “We did a three-sided size-up by having the driver pull past the structure.”   4. “I got yelled at by the incident commander for trying to do a 360.”   5. “The next-in crew took our hose line and went in while we’re doing the 360.”   6. “I knew I was supposed to do it but I got distracted by the homeowner talking to me.”   7. “The fire was coming out the front window. I didn’t need to go around back to see the obvious.”   8. “The back yard was fenced in and there was a big dog in the yard.”   9. “There was a victim inside. We didn’t have any time to waste on a 360.”   10. “The second-in company will do the 360.”   The front view and the back view can be VERY different!   I am not here to judge these explanations. Whatever reason offered, it is important to know that failing to complete the size up is a barrier to the formation of situational awareness. As I read the casualty investigation reports where firefighters die in residential dwelling fire, the failure to complete a 360° size up is very often cited as a contributing factor.   Chief Gasaway’s Advice   Develop and implement a standard that requires the completion of a 360° size up. If your department has this standard, ensure it is being practiced. If you find out 360 degree size ups are not being done, start asking why. Expect to hear many of the explanations that have been offered to me.   I acknowledge there may be conditions that make completing a 360° size up difficult, if not impossible. For example, on June 2, 2011 two firefighters were killed in a residential dwelling fire where a 360° size up was not completed. The house was built on the side of a steep hill, making it very difficult to complete the 360. (Click here to access the NIOSH investigation report). An inadequate size up was a contributing factor.   Completing a 360 degree size up is not going to start occurring automatically simply because a standard is developed or an administrator puts a directive. The size up must be built into routines of responders and this gets done through practice and repetition. This includes building the size up into training evolutions. Responders need to be taught what to look and listen for – the clues and cues that are present AND the clues and cues that are absent.   If your department does not complete 360° size ups now it may be engrained in the organization’s culture. Like the examples noted above, if someone fears getting yelled at for doing it, they may not complete the size up. If someone thinks another company is going to take their hose line inside while completing the size up, they may not complete the size up.   Discussions   1. Discuss your department’s cultural norms about completing a 360° size up. If it would be discouraged or there’s a possibility another company would take your hose line, discuss strategies for how the organization can overcome these factors.   2. Discuss a time when a 360° size up was not completed and it caused situational awareness to be flawed. This incident discussed does not have to be one where there was a consequence.   3. Discuss a time when a 360° size up was completed and how it improved situational awareness.   SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED     This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.     CREWS GET MIXED UP AT STRUCTURE FIRE. #08-0000396 August 22, 2008     I was on the first arriving engine company of a structure fire in a two-story abandoned house. Heavy flame and thick smoke were coming from the Delta Side of the structure. Other companies arrived before my crew deployed into the structure. I took one back-end firefighter with six years of experience and also a rookie with two weeks of experience.     The six-year firefighter and I deployed to the interior Delta Side, first floor, for attack, but only after assigning the two-week firefighter to the exterior doorway to pull hose. After making an initial attack, we backed out of the Delta Side to the exterior. I recovered the two-week firefighter and we went to the truck to exchange air bottles. We re-entered the Alpha Side interior where I once again left the two-week firefighter at the exterior doorway to pull hose and advanced the line with the six-year firefighter.     We were only 6-8’ inside the structure, Alpha Side, and I decided to back out just enough to direct the two-week firefighter on the hoseline behind me. We re-entered the interior to resume the attack. Shortly after re-entry, Command called for a PAR. I tapped the six-year firefighter on the shoulder as he operated the nozzle. I then turned and tapped who I thought was my two-week firefighter on the helmet. I then radioed Scene Command with PAR. Command asked me to verify PAR and I confirmed PAR.     When retreating to the exterior with empty air, I found the firefighter I thought to be my two-week firefighter… only it wasn’t my two-week firefighter. It was a 22- year veteran that had been freelancing. Another crew directed my two-week firefighter to advance with them into the second story interior. When I questioned the two-week firefighter why he followed them, he told me he thought the other crew was me and the six year firefighter because we all look the same. He could not tell us from the other crews because our turnout gear all looks the same.     LESSONS LEARNED   Just because you give an assignment, it doesn’t mean the assignment will be carried out.     Freelancing is dangerous.     Officers should be distinguishable on the fire scene.     You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com     And you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site: www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.     INFORMATION     If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.     If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!     Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”     SAMATTERS COMMUNITY QUESTION     This question comes from a Mental Management of Emergencies class held last month on New York.     QUESTION: What can we do to develop the experience level of young officers who may not see as many fires as we saw in the early day of our careers?     ANSWER: The best way to develop experience is through responses to fire incidents. However, as the student noted, the number of fires they are responding to is declining and so are the opportunities for young officers to get experience. The next best thing to real experience is realistic simulations that are created to mimic the real fire conditions and create the same challenges that would be encountered at a real fire. After that, the next best training aids are near-miss reports and line-of-duty death reports where factual data can guild learning about conditions and circumstances that lead to casualties and fatalities. Finally, young officers can benefit from the stories shared by their senior (and retired) members. The more realistic the elaborative the stories (without embellishment of the truth) the more a young officer can learn.     The brain cannot distinguish fact from vividly imagined fiction. So the more realistic these experiences, the more like the experience is to be stored in the brain of the young officer as if it were real.     CLOSING     Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.     You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424    

  On this episode we’ll talk about…   1.Habits, routines and complacency.   2.We will look at a near-miss event where tunnel vision and complacency may have flawed situational awareness.   3.And we will address a question from an SAMatters community member about how to make mayday training more realistic.   FEATURE TOPIC   We all know we have habits. Some of them are good habits. And some of them are…well… not so good. The less often talked about cousin of a habit is a routine. Habits and routines can definitely impact your situational awareness in both good and bad ways.   But where do habits and routines come from? Does a habit turn into a routine? Or does a routine turn into a habit? Do habits and routines prevent complacency or do they contribute to complaceny? All good questions. Let’s explore habits, routines and complacency.   Habits Webster defines a habit as: A behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance; an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.   Routines   Webster further defines a routine as a habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure.   So, by definition, routines are habits formed from following established procedures. Thus, by definition then, habits are only routines when they are formed from following procedures. But we have many habits that are formed while not following formally established procedures.   The chicken or the egg   The definitions offer up the age-old, or should I say the “egg old” question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? In the context of this topic, the question is: Do habits form routines or do routines form habits? An argument could be made for either to come first. Your routines can become your comfortable habits. Your habits can be developed into formal routines.   Enter complacency   Webster defines complacency as: Self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. It is very unfortunate that complacency has turned into a habit for some workers. Some have become satisfied and comfortable in doing things in ways that are dangerous to the point they have become unaware (or arguably, uncaring) about the dangers. The dangers are no longer seen as dangerous. This can have catastrophic consequences.    Contagious complacency   A complacent worker can “infect” other workers as well. When this happens, the consequences can be significant. In fact, an entire work group can become complacent. And worst of all, an entire department or organization can become complacent. When this happens, the workers can sink into a comfortable rut and become arrogant.   When this happens, employees can begin to believe they are so good at what they do that bad outcomes will never happen to them… because they never have. The success of past outcomes can contribute to complacency, especially when risky behavior is rewarded (seemingly) with good outcomes).  When workers perform in ways that are not consistent with best practices – and get away with it (i.e., no bad outcome) – it can build their confidence that is based in luck, not ability.   False confidence   When workers experience successful outcomes, this builds confidence. This, unto itself, is not a bad thing so long as the success was based on performance that is consistent with best practices. However, all success builds confidence. Meaning success resulting from luck also builds confidence, albeit a false confidence.   Psychologists that study the behavior of gamblers see this all the time. A gambler wins because they seemingly have some “strategy” for beating the odds – the mathematical probabilities of risk and return. Their success gives them confidence which can, in turn, increase their risk taking.   Over the long run, a gambler who thinks they can beat the odds is likely going to lose… a lot. But not every gambler is a loser over the long run. There is a small number whose luck runs longer than others and certain games are based on the strategy of one player versus another… and of course… the ability to “bluff” your opponent. But there’s no bluffing dangerous machinery or hazardous environments in the work setting.     Observing workers who have found long term luck can give others workers a false confidence that they too can cheat the system and be successful.     In the end, the casino will win. If you doubt this, only look at the lavishness of a casino. Those structures and fixtures are built on the losses of gamblers whose luck ran out.   Chief Gasaway’s advice   To overcome the curse of complacency, workers must first be aware of the affliction they are facing. This awareness comes from becoming a student of best practices. This involves learning about best practices and comparing what your organization does to other best practices in your profession. Read casualty reports to learn how workers get hurt and killed. Then compare the circumstances, situational awareness and decision making of catastrophic outcomes to how your organization does things.   When you see inconsistencies between established best practices and how your organization does things, it may be time to start asking the hard questions. Why does your organization do things differently than best practices dictate? Have you found a better way to get the job done? Is your better way safe? Or have you just been lucky?   Avoid judging bad outcomes that others experience. Oftentimes when workers read a casualty report they can judge the performance of others without turning that harsh judgment on themselves or on their own organization. We can be lulled into thinking the worker that experienced the bad outcome was less competent where, in fact, maybe their luck ran out.   Discussions   1. Discuss areas where your organization may have become complacent in training or performance.   2. Discuss areas where you have become personally complacent in your application of best practices.   3. Discuss ideas about how to break the cycle of complacency in your organization.   SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED     This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.     COMPLACENCY AND LACK OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEARLY DELIVER SHOCKING SURPRISE. #06-0000435 Saturday, August 19, 2006     We were dispatched for a report of "smoke coming from the grass" on the side of the highway. It was a rainy, humid, and foggy afternoon, so right away we were guessing that it was a motorist who saw fog and thought it was smoke as had been the case many times before. The engine crew responded and initially was unable to locate anything, went in service, and then on their way back to quarters located the smoke. Upon investigating, they found what appeared to be an approximately 18" corrugated metal pipe coming up out of the ground in the grassy area just off the right shoulder of the highway.   The lip of the pipe was only a couple inches above the surface and was near the ditch that ran along the tree line. It appeared to be some sort of sewer pipe, and one side of the lip was bent over like it had been hit or damaged. The crew used a shovel to dig around the pipe and then a pry bar in and around the pipe to bend the lip clear of the opening. They then noticed an extremely large amount of heat coming from the pipe (too hot to touch) and then noticed that the rain water inside the pipe was literally boiling.   They also thought that they felt the ground vibrating slightly around the pipe. As they pondered what they were looking at, our Assistant Chief came on the radio and questioned if it could have anything to do with the highway light poles. Sure enough, the crew looked up, and there was a light pole about 100" away (perpendicular to the highway) and all you could see was the very top of it above the trees. The crew dropped their tools and retrieved the "AC HotStik" from the engine, which indicated that the pipe was in fact energized.   Construction was being done in the area, and a Department of Transportation (DOT) crew was working about a quarter-mile away. They were summoned to the scene. The DOT workers put on their electrical safety gear and used their insulated electrical tools to pull a large wiring harness up and out of the water-filled pipe. They were in the area trying to figure out why the highway lights were not working. This shorting electrical equipment was the reason why.   The DOT workers said that the wiring carried about 480 volts of electricity and is supposed to be buried underground unnoticeable from the surface. The scene was turned over to DOT and the engine crew cleared.     LESSONS LEARNED   When the call went out, complacency reared its ugly head in our thinking that it was just a motorist seeing fog. However, I don’t believe that this contributed to the incident being a "near-miss." The Captain on scene does admit though that there was a bit of tunnel vision on their part in that they saw the pipe and assumed it was some sort of sewer pipe.   It had never crossed their minds that it could be electrical until the Assistant Chief mentioned it on the radio. She credits his intervention with possibly preventing an electrocution had they continued. I think this incident is a good reminder to always be aware of your surroundings.   Don"t be a moth to the flames (or smoke). Look up and around you for anything that could be related to what you"re investigating. This was an unusual event. However, I do believe that voltage-detection devices (i.e. our "AC HotStik") are under-utilized and should be one of the first tools coming off the rig more often during utility emergencies/investigations.     You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com   If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site: www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.   INFORMATION   If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.   If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!   Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.   SAMatters COMMUNITY Question   This question comes from the Q&A session held at the end of the Training For Failure program.   QUESTION: What can we do to ensure our mayday training program is more realistic?   ANSWER: Thanks Chris for the question. It was easier for me to demonstrate my answer in the webinar because I was able to make sounds that I am not going to be able to replicate here in the newsletter. That aside, one of the ways to make training realistic is to increase the stress level of participants by making the incident look, feel, smell and sound as real as possible.   The example I shared with Chris has to do with simulating a mayday. If you are simulating a crew calling a mayday, then make it sound REAL over the radio.   During your drills, make sure the company that calls a mayday sounds like they are REALLY in distress. Have them give incomplete or partial information as to their whereabouts and why they need help. When they key the radio, have them only give a partial message and then have the radio go silent. Have their voice be so garbled that it is unreadable.   That simple change in radio communications will be enough to raise the stress level of your commander. If you want to see the difference in performance, do it once with regular (non-stressed) voices. Then do it again with stressed communications. I think you'll see two different outcomes.   CLOSING   Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.   If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.   You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.   Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.     You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com.   If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com   Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com   On-Line Academy http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/   Books and Videos (Store) http://www.samatters.com/store/   Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/   Close Call Survivor Website www.CloseCallSurvivor.com   Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424