Human Factors

Threat & Error Management Training

Threat & Error Management (TEM) training provides participants with a key set of team-based risk management skills and strategies that have been developed to reduce human error and enhance teamwork in high-risk settings. The program is useful in developing an understanding of the nature of human behavior with respect to error. Designed for both management and line employees, the course material is relevant for a wide range of law enforcement professionals including, but not limited to:

Sworn Officers, SWAT, Critical Incident Teams, Police Psychologists, Internal Affairs Personnel, Police Trainers, Administration Personnel, Park Rangers, Dispatch, Fire, EMTs, and Aviation Crews.

Our training emphasizes a pro-active response to error discovery and/or threat of human error within an organization. Participants learn how to apply the principles of TEM to predict and identify human error potential encountered in law enforcement operations, aviation operations, and emergency situations.

Topics of discussion include Situational Awareness, Stress and Performance, Decision Making, Effective Communications in High Stakes Situations, and Leadership Skills.

TEM Training will enable participants to:

• Predict and identify Human Error potential and develop strategies for reducing error and controlling outcomes.
• Use TEM to analyze Safety Data and assist in conducting review boards.
• Assist in constructively assessing policies and procedures, based on knowledge of human behavior and Threat & Error Management.
• Conduct risk assessments for tactical operations (SWAT, high risk warrant service, etc.).
• Understand the relationship between situational awareness and mishap potential.
• Predict the performance of an individual or team based on a given level of situational awareness.
• Recognize the clues that can indicate the impending or actual loss of situational awareness and deploy the options available when it has been determined that situational awareness may have been lost.
• Understand the effects of stress on memory functions, performance and the decision-making process.
• Understand the common and uncommon causes of fatigue and identify the physical and mental symptoms and their affect on decision making.
• Apply three key decision types and understanding when and how they are typically used in routine and abnormal situations.v
• Apply the key leadership principles to strategic and tactical decision-making.
• Enhance the professional standards/ internal affairs process (re: analysis of specific acts and implications for the organization).

Research statistics show that over 85% of all primary cause factors in mishaps are related to Human Error. Organizations utilizing these proven strategies have effectively reduced negative incidents and mishaps which can lead to a significant reduction in litigation and associated expenses.

Instructor Craig E. Geis

Co-Founder of California Training Institute, Craig E. Geis is a certified Force Science Analyst, and has been an instructor for California POST since 2003 on the subject of Human Factors Threat & Error Management. Mr. Geis was a career army pilot, developed the military’s Team Resource Management (TRM) training program to address human error, and is a former instructor for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, University of Maryland, and the University of San Francisco. He has served as an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, providing instruction in numerous courses on Safety Management and Human Factors. Craig holds an M.A. in Psychology from Austin Peay State University, a B.A. in Management from C.W. Post College in New York, and an MBA in Management from Georgia Southern College.

Mr. Geis’ work has formed the basis for the NASA, FAA, and the International Civil Aviation Organization recommendations on Human Factors, and is being used by military special operations, the FAA, military and commercial aviation, surgical & ambulance teams, nuclear power plant facilities, SWAT, ALEA, DEA, U.S. Customs, National Parks Service, and police & sheriffs departments worldwide.