Situational Awareness Matters!
Volume 2
eBook

272 pages
.pdf Download

This eBook is a collection of articles from the Situational Awareness Matters! website. Situational Awareness Matters is completely dedicated to the mission of helping first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome.

To say that situational awareness is important for first responders would be a gross understatement. It is the leading cause of near miss events and the leading contributing factor for casualty events. The motivation for this work comes my passion to improve the safety of the dedicated men and women serving on the line protecting their communities every day. I am truly humbled to play a small part in helping to protect the protectors.

I have dedicated the past seven years of my life to the study of the art and science of decision making and to learn as much as I possibly can about situational awareness in the high-risk, high-consequence decision making environments of first responders, aviation, medicine, military, nuclear energy and others. Many of these lessons are rooted on cognitive psychology and other fields of neuroscience.

While my doctoral work and extensive research are the foundation of my contributions to this book, I am also a firefighter. I go to great lengths to avoid using complex scientific terms or phenomenon. The lessons contained here are too important to risk your misunderstanding.

How to use this eBook

The chapters in this eBook are dedicated to improving your situational awareness. Many of the chapters feature discussion questions that can be used during classroom sessions, hands-on training evolutions or coffee table discussions. The greatest value will come when you share the knowledge you acquire from this book with others.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Physical, chemical and emotional impact of stress
Chapter 2: Types of stress
Chapter 3: Some stress is good
Chapter 4: Communications overload impacts situational awareness
Chapter 5: Hyper vigilance
Chapter 6: Tunnel vision
Chapter 7: Auditory exclusion
Chapter 8: Information overload
Chapter 9: Time distortion
Chapter 10: Creatures of habit
Chapter 11: Commanders in turnout gear?
Chapter 12: Mobile data computers and situational awareness
Chapter 13: Peer pressure can impact situational awareness
Chapter 14: Situational awareness starts with the size up
Chapter 15: When the puzzle pieces don't fit
Chapter 16: Every building on fire is in the process of falling down
Chapter 17: Noise impacts situational awareness
Chapter 18: Five situational awareness lesson from a LODD
Chapter 19: Dangerous mindsets: The starter
Chapter 20: Dangerous mindsets: The subordinate
Chapter 21: Dangerous mindsets: The specialist
Chapter 22: Dangerous mindsets: The superior
Chapter 23: Dangerous mindsets: The stubborn
Chapter 24: Dangerous mindsets: The silent
Chapter 25: Dangerous mindsets: Superman/Superwoman
Chapter 26: Dangerous mindsets: The slacker
Chapter 27: Dangerous mindsets: The synergist
Chapter 28: Independent action can impact situational awareness
Chapter 29: Tracking of personnel
Chapter 30: Staffing for the mayday/rapid intervention

About the author

Richard B. Gasaway, PhD, CSP is widely considered a trusted authority on human factors, situational awareness and the high-risk decision making processes used in high-stress, high consequence work environments. He served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic, company officer, training officer, fire chief and emergency incident commander. His doctoral research included the study of cognitive neuroscience to understand how human factors flaw situational awareness and impact high-risk decision making.