SAMatters Radio Dr. Richard B. Gasaway

The fire service is struggling with recruiting and retention. It’s also challenged by a mental health crisis and a growing apathy within the profession. The good news is, we have the power to fix it. Working in a team environment provides job satisfaction, psychological safety, and a feeling of community. Fire service leaders have the responsibility of developing teams; so, Dr. JT wrote a book on how to Forge Your Team.
 
Dr. JT started his career in 2000 as a U.S. Army Firefighter. He's worked for several fire departments around the world.  Currently, he works at MCLB Barstow Fire & Emergency Service as an Assistant Chief of Operations.
He's led as an Army Sergeant, CEO and Fire Officer. At the age of 25, he opened a 24-hour health club and became a top 100 grossing franchisee.
He obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, a master's degree in leadership and a doctorate in strategic leadership. Dr. JT is credentialed through CPSE and works as an instructor for two colleges. He has achieved multiple life-saving awards and service distinctions throughout his career. Moreover, he has authored a book titled, Forging Your Team: Demystifying Team Development in the Fire Service and writes for multiple publications. He's also a mentor for transitioning veterans through American Corporate Partners. Dr. JT has a passion for serving people and developing teams. Throughout his career he has developed award winning teams and transformed organizations through his distinct strategies.
 
 
About the Host


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.
 
Contact us
www.SAMatters.com
www.RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424 (office)
 
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LinkedIn: Rich Gasaway
LinkedIn: Situational Awareness Matters
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The SAMatters Show is the longest running, fastest growing, safety focused program on the Internet. If you know a company that might be interested in advertising their product or service to our listeners and viewers, ask them to contact us at SAMatters.com.

In this episode, Dr. Gasaway discusses how to accelerating leadership growth and impact with Sean Glaze, author of Rapid Teamwork, The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates, and Staying Coachable. 


Sean Glaze is a leadership speaker, teambuilding facilitator, and author who delivers engaging experiences that ignite your team’s performance.  Sean has worked with clients like Cisco, John Deere, the CDC, and Emory University to increase collaboration, boost productivity, and build more positive and workplace cultures.
 
As a successful basketball coach, Sean gained valuable insights on turning talent into teamwork – and now he travels around the country to share those lessons.  Sean’s conference keynotes and custom team building events deliver laugh-out-loud moments and memorable take-aways that transform your people into winning teammates and more effective leaders. 
 
Sean’s books, Rapid Teamwork, The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates, and Staying Coachable are entertaining parables that help accelerate the growth of leaders and their teams! 
 
About the Host


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.
 
Contact us
www.SAMatters.com
www.RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424 (office)
 
Let’s Get connected
Facebook: SAMatters
LinkedIn: Rich Gasaway
LinkedIn: Situational Awareness Matters
Twitter: Rich Gasaway
Youtube: SAMattersTV
itunes: SAMatters Radio
Stitcher Radio: SAMatters Radio
Google Play: SAMatters Radio
iHeart Radio: SAMatters Radio
 
Subscribe to our newsletter
https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001QBjzLm5TdrgyGiTVawsKpOPyX7pyxgudcpIHlO4C0QZysGMNxIu3SLHj061egXA6zT7MN9inN2AhOsaRTCYleS9V5q93RJ7iWL2G9NqLMKAkrJA7VeTvkrVAmn_E6y7fSdBVjXIS3lH1CQEqjOyXHweJnvkkvYUS
 
SEAN GLAZE WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
 
EFFECTIVE LEADERS WEBSITE
https://effectiveleaders.live/
 
GREAT RESULTS TEAMBUILDING WEBSITE
https://greatresultsteambuilding.net/
 
LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanglaze
 
TWITTER
https://twitter.com/leadyourteam
 
TIKTOK
https://www.tiktok.com/@leadyourteam
 
FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/GreatResultsTeambuilding?sk=wall
 
YOUTUBE
https://www.youtube.com/c/SeanGlaze
           
 
 
WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE CAN GRAB SEAN’S FREE RESOURCES -
 
GET FREE ACCESS TO SEAN’S TEAM LEADERSHIP TOOLBOX,
WITH OVER 50 USEFUL HANDOUTS & ACTIVITIES TO
CREATE A MORE POSITIVE AND PRODUCTIVE CULTURE!
 
VISIT - WWW.TOOLBOXSTUFF.COM
 
 
The SAMatters Show is the longest running, fastest growing, safety focused program on the Internet. If you know a company that might be interested in advertising their product or service to our listeners and viewers, ask them to contact us at SAMatters.com.

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Jeff Dill about the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and their work to reduce firefighter suicides.
 
In 2010, Jeff Dill founded Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA).  And since 2021, Jeff has served full time as the Behavioral Health Administrator for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue in Nevada.
 
Jeff travels the United States & Canada holding workshops to educate firefighters, dispatchers & EMS about behavioral health awareness, moral injury and suicide prevention.  In 2010, FBHA began tracking and validating data on all FF, EMS and dispatcher suicides across the United States. In addition, FBHA offers ten workshops for first responders, counselors/chaplains, family members and preparing for retirement.
 
Jeff Dill holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling, is a retired Fire Captain at Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in Inverness, Illinois.  
 
FBHA has been tracking and validating FF, EMS and Dispatcher suicides since 2010, We can discuss the data, how it is obtained, who uses it, what it shows us. Jeff has travelled over a million miles presenting educational workshops on behavioral health and suicide. As most non profits today it is a struggle to keep a float but FBHA is grateful for everyone's support including numerous times from Rich Gasaway!
 
About the Host


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.
 
Contact us
www.SAMatters.com
www.RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424 (office)
 
Let’s Get connected
Facebook: SAMatters
LinkedIn: Rich Gasaway
LinkedIn: Situational Awareness Matters
Twitter: Rich Gasaway
Youtube: SAMattersTV
itunes: SAMatters Radio
Stitcher Radio: SAMatters Radio
Google Play: SAMatters Radio
iHeart Radio: SAMatters Radio
 
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
 
Jeff Dill Contact Information
FFBHA.org
 
The SAMatters Show is the longest running, fastest growing, safety focused program on the Internet. If you know a company that might be interested in advertising their product or service to our listeners and viewers, ask them to contact us at SAMatters.com.
 

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with George Esbensen, President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE) about the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program.
 
During his 32 years in the fire service, George Esbensen served in many roles, from firefighter to chief. Today, he volunteers as Board President of the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE), an advocacy nonprofit he co-founded in 2016 dedicated to providing Minnesota's firefighters with the tools they need to prioritize and protect their health. Chief Esbensen has been an advocate for firefighter wellness for his entire career, leading efforts to ban cancer-causing flame retardants, establish the Hometown Heroes Survivor Act, and, in 2021, pass the most comprehensive firefighter well-being legislation in the nation.
 
Hometown Heroes Assistance Program
 
The summer of 2023 marked the two-year anniversary of the Minnesota legislature’s passing of the Hometown Heroes Act. This win for the state’s fire service has since ensured that every Minnesota firefighter has access to a MnFIRE Assistance Program with expanded emotional trauma resources, including free visits to mental health professionals and ongoing peer support, an up-to-$20,000 critical illness policy that they’re automatically enrolled in, and ongoing health and wellness training, all at no cost to them or their department.
 
Firefighters across the country – and across Minnesota – are affected by serious health concerns including cardiac disease, emotional trauma and cancer at rates nearly twice as high as the general public. But since the legislation went into effect, the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program (HHAP), administered by the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative (MnFIRE), has changed thousands of lives through an array of confidential resources available to all active volunteer, paid-on-call, part-time and full-time Minnesota firefighters. In just over two years, the program has provided:
 
·      Nearly 1,000 firefighter-focused mental health providers across the state to offer up to five no-cost counseling sessions per issue per year to firefighters and their families. To date the MnFIRE Assistance Program has facilitated nearly 1,600 visits with mental health providers.
·      An expanded network of trained MnFIRE peer supporters, which has responded to more than 675 calls.
·      149 paid Critical Illness claims, totaling $1.9 million. Illnesses have included full-benefit cancer, COVID-19, post-traumatic stress disorder, skin cancer, other cancer, ALS, heart attack, sudden cardiac arrest, heart disease, kidney failure, coronary artery disease needing surgery and more.
·      1,118 MnFIRE trainings to 17,524 firefighters about the increased occupational health risks they face and how to cultivate a healthy lifestyle.
 
About the Host


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.
 
Contact us
www.SAMatters.com
www.RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424 (office)
 
Let’s Get connected
Facebook: SAMatters
LinkedIn: Rich Gasaway
LinkedIn: Situational Awareness Matters
Twitter: Rich Gasaway
Youtube: SAMattersTV
itunes: SAMatters Radio
Stitcher Radio: SAMatters Radio
Google Play: SAMatters Radio
iHeart Radio: SAMatters Radio
 
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
 
George Esbensen Contact Information
MNFireInitiative.com
 
The SAMatters Show is the longest running, fastest growing, safety focused prog

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Vicki Quint and Rick Nickerson about PFAS, foam exposure and the risk to firefighters.
 
The Foam Exposure Committee Mission Statement - - To reduce firefighter / first responder exposures to perfluorinated chemicals used in firefighting foams in order to protect their health and lives. We will recommend a list of firefighting products for fire departments based on testing data and Committee review. First responders should have immediate access to safer fluorine-free firefighting foams.
 
About the Host


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.
 
Contact us
www.SAMatters.com
www.RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424 (office)
 
Let’s Get connected
Facebook: SAMatters
LinkedIn: Rich Gasaway
LinkedIn: Situational Awareness Matters
Twitter: Rich Gasaway
Youtube: SAMattersTV
itunes: SAMatters Radio
Stitcher Radio: SAMatters Radio
Google Play: SAMatters Radio
iHeart Radio: SAMatters Radio
 
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
 
 
The SAMatters Show is the longest running, fastest growing, safety focused program on the Internet. If you know a company that might be interested in advertising their product or service to our listeners and viewers, ask them to contact us at SAMatters.com.

In this interview, Dr. Gasaway talks with Jeff Snider about the NIOSH 5 – or the five most often cited contributing factors in Line of Duty death investigations and lessons for leaders.
 
Jeff Snider has served with the Canadian military as a Special Forces Operator (3 CDO), a Correctional Officer at a maximum-security facility, and 28 years in the Fire Service, serving in the positions of Firefighter, Lieutenant, Captain, K9 Handler, Acting Training Officer and Assistant Chief, in both the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, and the Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service. 
 
Jeff has been involved as an instructor in the Fire Service since 1997. Outside of the departments that he has worked for as a firefighter, he has been fortunate enough to have travelled all over BC, across Canada, and as far south as Mexico and Peru, in his role as an instructor/evaluator.
 
Jeff’s role now, as the Chief Instructor for the Practical N Tactical Training Group, allows him to work with like-minded, dedicated instructors, who understand that teaching is an outstanding opportunity to “pour back into” the community that has provided so much to them. He sees this as both a privilege and a pleasure. 
 
When Jeff’s not at work, he is spending time with his “Much Better Half”, his “mutts”, his family and friends. Exercising brain and body is a priority so he will often be lifting something, rolling with his Jiujitsu buddies or reading something. Otherwise, you may find him hiking the woods, building unusual playhouses for his grandchildren or carving things with a chainsaw!
 
The NIOSH five are:
1.   Improper Risk Assessment
2.   Lack of Incident Command
3.   Lack of Accountability
4.   Inadequate Communications
5.   Lack of SOPs or Failure to Follow Established SOPs
 
These are the top 5 causal factors that contribute to the ultimate outcomes in the investigated LODD reports. And while we are on the topic, please tell me you are reviewing, personally and with your crew, each and every NIOSH Line of Duty Death report. This is an invaluable resource, made available to all of us. When tragedy strikes our Fire Service family, it is imperative that we don’t lose the lessons that others have paid the highest price.
 
These five leading causes can also be attributed to the most common leadership failures, in the Fire Service, and many other organizations as well.
 
Here is an outline of what we’ll be talking about today:

1 - Inadequate communications
-       Listen (verbal and non-verbal).
-       How you communicate your message.
-       Clear and concise message.
-       Public speaking skills.
-       No unnecessary messaging.
-       Honest feedback.
 
2 - Improper risk assessment
-       360 problems before you start making decisions.
-       Understand the problem before solutions.
-       Spend time with personnel.
-       Understand personnel and their life challenges.
-       Situational awareness.
-       Preplan.
-       Reading people.
-       Self awareness: My values personal life, feelings, reactions.
-       Character: Acting with integrity in line with your values.
-       You can’t fire a canon from a row boat.
 
3 - Lack of incident command
-       Someone has to be in charge.
-       Decisive.
-       Take your time when making decisions.
-       Set your ego aside.
-       Use the knowledge of others as a resource.
 
4 - Lack of accountability.
-       Character, integrity, commitment, accountable.
-       In line with your values.
-       Be accountable to your personnel.
-       Keep best interest of personnel in mind.
-       Lead up the chain of command.
-       Accountable to the chief.
-       Account