Human Factors
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Slow is smooth, smooth EQUALS FAST
Read more: Slow is smooth, smooth EQUALS FASTSlow is smooth, smooth equals fast is the title of this blog. In climbing and mountaineering there is prestige in speed. Perhaps even an association with speed and competence… This is a blog about the culture of speed in the training, assessment and practice of mountain professionals. It is always there, sometimes pervasive and certainly…
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Safety by PowerPoint…
Read more: Safety by PowerPoint…Safety by powerpoint. This is a blog about assumptions or preconceptions about safety management in the outdoor sector. This isn’t just the domain of senior instructors and heads of outdoor centres but a function of our collective behaviour. “I sat down quietly in the instructors briefing having introduced myself and listened intently. Accustomed to meetings…
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Exotic Behaviour: Cultural norms and the wild west
Read more: Exotic Behaviour: Cultural norms and the wild westExotic behaviour: cultural norms and the wild west. This blog is about exotic behaviour in an archipelago of craggy islands off the west coast of Scotland. Cultural norms and values give us predictability in the outdoor sector. In short, they provide us with expectations, shaping how we think and act as mountain professionals. exotic adjective…
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Avalanche: Does the Accident Route Matrix have a place?
Read more: Avalanche: Does the Accident Route Matrix have a place?Accident Route Matrix Does the Accident Route Matrix (ARM) have a place in understanding avalanche incidents? In this blog we look at systems based incident analysis. These methods look at all the causal factors in incidents far beyond the “who triggered it” strategy of individual decision making. There are lots of tools for assessing the…
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Super Puma G-WNSB
Read more: Super Puma G-WNSBToday marks the tenth anniversary of the loss of Super Puma G-WNSB on the approach to Sumburgh (Shetland) with four fatalities. Although the Mountain Assurance blog is really about the mountains, this tragic incident is important for a couple of reasons. The crew of Rescue Bond One, the industry rescue helicopter based on the Miller…
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Human Factors – Change the person or the context?
Read more: Human Factors – Change the person or the context?Human Factors – Change the person or the context? Procedures that we don’t always follow, even if we should. After incidents and near misses in the outdoors much of the conversation around learning from these events is focused on the performance of the instructor or guide concerned. I recognise that as normal, in that the…
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Swipe Right! – Decision Making in avalanche terrain…
Read more: Swipe Right! – Decision Making in avalanche terrain…Alison shouted AVALANCHE, as the wet slide exited the hidden couloir well above us. The volume seemed to build exponentially until the snow hit the frozen lake below. Breaking the ice, the debris started a tidal wave across the lakes surface. Seconds earlier we had faced a “go or no go” decision. We were fully…
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Mountain CRM – Crew Resource Management in Avalanche Terrain
Read more: Mountain CRM – Crew Resource Management in Avalanche TerrainWith the first snow on the Cairngorms now is a good time to talk about the launch of Mountain CRM. This online course is an introduction to ‘Crew Resource Management’ and ‘Human Factors’ in Avalanche Terrain. You can find this course over on the Mountain Assurance Teachable site at https://mountain-assurance.teachable.com/p/mountain-crm. You will learn how to…
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The Normalisation of Deviance and how I nearly killed myself at an avalanche “safe” venue…
Read more: The Normalisation of Deviance and how I nearly killed myself at an avalanche “safe” venue…The Normalisation of Deviance and how I nearly killed myself at an avalanche “safe” venue… MOVE, MOVE, MOVE, we pushed forwards in towards the cliff as we were hit by the air blast. Pelted by chunks of snow I wrapped my arms around my head and waited either for the avalanche, or my life, to…
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Latest posts
- Latent Threats: When training bites back
- Threat Managers: Rethinking risk
- Slow is smooth, smooth EQUALS FAST
- Safety by PowerPoint…
- Exotic Behaviour: Cultural norms and the wild west
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