Situation awareness and habitual or resting bias in high-pressure fire-incident training command decisions

The investigation aimed to determine if Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) personnel display characteristic individual patterns of “bias” in decision-making during high-pressure simulated fire incidents. Research using the Quantitative Analysis Situation Awareness (QASA) method revealed that despite expertise, FRS how information is accepted for decision-making, showing either a conservative bias (accepting limited information) or liberal broader span information), former associated with miss errors latter false alarms. QASA measures Actual Perceived Bias were obtained 19 operational Incident Commanders two peer-assessments (one year apart) requiring management complex fireground Poor peer ratings meant potential loss salary status, generating high pressure on participants. There was level SA, but no significant correlation between these exercise (p > 0.05). Individuals displayed bias, tending be consistent across exercises: rτ = 0.335, p 0.046. finding “resting” under disjunction actual perceived SA may help explain why highly-trained staff can make decision – although there are likely other factors play also.