Jun 6, 2014
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.
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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
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