SAMatters Radio

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

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612-548-4424

SAM 099 | Distracted Driving: Interview with Greg Yost Mar 15, 2016

Show notes

Greg Yost has served as a firefighter in Hancock, Maryland for more than 30 years. He has been an advocate for improving responder safety on highways incidents for many years.

On June 21, 2014 Greg’s daughter, Daniele, was involved in a vehicle accident where the investigation determined that she was distracted while driving. As a result, her vehicle drifted left of center and struck another vehicle head-on, killing both drivers.

Greg has since dedicated himself to teaching classes for teens and adults on the challenges of distracted driving.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Guest Contact Information

Greg Yost

Gyost73@hotmail.com

ResponderSafety.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 098 | The role of emotions in decision making Mar 08, 2016

Show notes

It is a widely held belief that the best decisions are made without the interference of emotions. Economists and statisticians alike stand fast to this belief – the best decisions are made with using pure logic. Facts and formulas lead to the most rational decisions.

But do they? Image for a moment if the emotional control center of a person’s brain were removed. Would that person then make better decisions? We’ll review a medical case that answers this question.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 097 | Situational Readiness Mar 01, 2016

Show notes

The precursor to situational awareness is situational readiness, which I define as: Having the ability to anticipate what things need to be in place to be well-prepared for an emergency response; and then, taking the steps necessary to ensure the right things are done, in advance of the actual response, to be properly prepared.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 096 | Administrative Workload Can Impact Situational Awareness Feb 23, 2016

Show notes

This episode was inspired by an email from a listener wanted to know if an officer’s administrative duties, assignments, tasks and workload can impact on situational awareness.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 095 | Peer Pressure Can Impact Situational Awareness Feb 16, 2016

Show notes

First responders spend a lot of time together, on calls, in the station, and in many cases in social settings outside of work. All of this interaction builds relationships that allow responders to trust their lives to each other. We’ll discuss how peer pressure can be beneficial and detrimental to first responder safety.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 094 | Information Overload Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

Your brain is awesome at capturing, processing, storing and recalling information. But it has limitations, especially when it comes to memory under stress. There are four steps in the process of developing a memory: Encoding, storage, retrieval and forgetting. The process is quite complex. Perhaps I'll dedicate a future chapter to walking readers through the complete process of memory formation. But for now, I am going to focus on the first step, encoding.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 093 | On being aggressive Feb 02, 2016

Show notes

To think being safe and being aggressive cannot coexist is to believe that responders must sacrifice safety if/when they choose to be aggressive. Or, when responders choose to do things safely, they can no longer be aggressive. In truth, safety and aggressiveness can be accomplished simultaneously.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 092 | Five situational awareness lessons from a LODD report Jan 26, 2016

Show notes

The San Francisco Fire Department conducted an internal review of the incident and issued a 156-page report on their findings. Many of the lessons relate to situational awareness and it is from that perspective that I would like to share my assessment on several of their findings.

I dedicate this podcast to the lives of Lieutenant Vincent Perez and firefighter/paramedic Anthony M. Valerio and I applaud the San Francisco Fire Department for conducting an internal review and for sharing their findings with the fire service so we may all learn from tragedy.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway

Support@RichGasaway.com

612-548-4424

SAM 091 | Creatures of habit Jan 19, 2016

Show notes

Good or bad, we all have habits. On an emergency scene good habits can save your life and bad habits can result of tragic consequences. So it stands to reason that you would want to form good habits and avoid bad habits, right? But you can form bad habits and not be aware of it.

Our sponsor:

Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com

Intro music

Safety Dance (1982)

Men Without Hats

GMC - Virgin Records

Situational Awareness Matters! website

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

Contact Rich Gasaway