Chapter 6: Staffing Flashcards
Chapter 6: Staffing p97
What percentage of the multiple card sort exercise indicated staffing as a significant challenge for situational awareness decision-making?
43%
Chapter 6: Staffing p97
What may be a reason for that staffing is a unique situational awareness challenge to public safety?
Public Safety’s are routinely called upon to perform with less than adequate staffing as opposed to commercial airliners or surgical teams in which understaffing would cause those teams to not engage. Meaning the flight and the surgery would be canceled.
Chapter 6: Staffing p98
Expert commanders in the research study rank situational awareness issues relating to staffing as the most significant barriers what type of barriers were caused due to staffing? 4
Understaffing
Unpredictable staffing
Response time delays (as relates to staffing)
Lack of experience of first responders
Chapter 6: Staffing p98
What is the unique condition the author proposes to add to the initial size up?
The initial size of should also include an evaluation of the available staffing. For example the decision-maker might give consideration to the number of personnel responding to the call, how long it’s going to take those responders to arrive at scene, and the training experience level responders. Each piece of data about staffing represents clues and cues used for sizing up the staffing situation.
Chapter 6: Staffing p99
As the decision-maker evaluates the staffing pieces of information together into something meaningful what does that information become?
Discerning if there is adequate resources at the scene to safely do the work that needs to be done.
Then (consistent with the highest level of situational awareness) the decision-maker constructs predictions about future events based on what available personnel can get done within a given timeframe.
Chapter 6: Staffing p100
How are staffing concerns even more challenging for volunteer or pay on call departments?
Even if the officer announces on scene the number of responding crewmembers decision-makers have no way of knowing the training and experience level of the crew members without actually knowing each person who makes up the crew on the apparatus.
Chapter 6: Staffing p100-101
How does understaffing affect decision-making and situational awareness?
When challenged by understaffing a decision-maker can’t develop level I situational awareness about staffing when critical clues and cues are missing (such as the quantity and quality of the first responders).
The decision-maker will similarly struggle to reach level II and III situational awareness. The development of situational awareness is progressive to be effective there can be no shortcuts.
Chapter 6: Staffing p102
What can overconfidence by decision-makers about a crew’s ability lead to?
May cause a decision-maker to over assign tasks to personnel, giving crews multiple assignments and expecting all that has to be accomplished and unrealistic time frames. Under stress and excitement this can be an easy trap to fall into.
If decision-makers know what needs to be done the tasks can get assigned to personnel present without consideration to size or ability.
Chapter 6: Staffing p102
What challenge happens when the decision-maker arrives on scene and conducts a size up, and makes a plan of action prior to the arrival of all the proper number of responders?
Premature assignments – commanders report that they arrive on scene, conduct the size up and make a solid action plan that they can’t properly execute because the right staffing has yet to arrive.
When that staffing finally arrives they go ahead and enact the plan that was formed in the past. Failing to give consideration to how rapidly changing conditions should have altered the plan. Stale plan.
Chapter 6: Staffing p103
How can a decision-maker avoid enacting a stale plans made before crews arrived?
Arrive and formulate situational awareness including a prediction of how far the fire is going to progress and how the incident may deteriorate in that time it’s going to take to realistically assemble the right amount of staffing.
As staffing arrives the decision-maker can reassess conditions to see if predictions were accurate or not.
The size up has to be conducted with a conscious understanding of the passage of time as the incident intensifies. This helps to make more realistic projections of how quickly future events are going to unfold.
Chapter 6: Staffing p103
What are the possible effects of a decision-maker who fails to revisit the plan as staffing arrives?
There is a risk the assignments set the responders up for failure because the current conditions and deterioration of the incident has a ready progress beyond what is safe. If the decision-maker stays with an outdated action plan, changes in conditions may be overlooked.
Chapter 6: Staffing p103
How can decision-makers situational awareness be challenge by crews who want to take aggressive action?
The conditions may not be conducive for aggression. (May be an organizational culture)
Chapter 6: Staffing p103-104
What challenges to situational awareness may arise when a decision-maker has to wait for the arrival of tactical personnel?
This may give way to frustration or anger since their action plans can be implemented until sufficient help arrives.
The frustration and anger are barriers to situational awareness. Drawing the decision-makers attention to the late arriving crew instead of looking for clues and cues from an ever-changing incident.
Or it may cause the decision-makers to have made and revised his action plan so many times that he is confused and overloaded by facts (clues and cues).
Chapter 6: Staffing p104-106
How can quality of staffing challenge decision-makers situational awareness?
Decision-makers size up should include an assessment of the quality of personnel, training and experience level of each member of the crew.
Decision-makers who assess crew quality and quantity prior to making a tactical assignment can improve situational awareness.
Decision-makers who know they have a weak crew and still engage in high-risk operations can be a significant impact on the decision-makers situational awareness. A narrow focus on safety of crew at risk.
Chapter 6: Staffing p106
When decision-makers find themselves going operational/being hands-on when it’s determine the crew lacks sufficient training or experience how does that diminish the decision-makers situational awareness
Going operational can increase the risk to personnel.
There is no longer anyone commanding the incident.
The decision-maker may have a narrow focus and most certainly cause big picture clues and cues to be missed.
The decision-maker may focus on the safety of inexperienced crews.
