Take Your Eyes off Me. The Effect of the Presence of Witnesses on the Conduct of Rescue Operations

• Published in: Bezpieczeństwo i Technika Pożarnicza = Safety & Fire Technique Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 14 - 22
• Main Authors: Strojny, Paweł, Strojny, Agnieszka, Kałwak, Weronika, Bańbura, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Józefów Scientific and Research Centre for Fire Protection 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Firefighters; Fires; Interviews; Personality; Social psychology; New York
• DOI: 10.12845/bitp.49.1.2018.1
• ISSN: 2657-8808

[...]the system should be prepared for the increasing pressure from witnesses, and in particular should provide training to equip rescuers with the skills necessary to minimise the negative consequences of the audience effect. [...]we decided to propose an interpretation of the experience of witnesses' presence during rescue operation in terms of social facilitation theory. The sample included operatives from the National Fire Brigade with a wide range of length of service, rank and type of tasks performed in the service (rescue operatives, firefighters, drivers, commanders, instructors), and members of the Voluntary Fire Brigade (three out of 18 people). Because the process of recruiting experts or members of public trust professions to qualitative interviews may be challenging [22], we opted for relatively relaxed criteria and a compound scheme of recruiting participants. The former in particular is likely to become increasingly significant in the near future due to the growing access to devices which can be used for audio-visual recording. [...]social inhibition should be considered a possible negative consequence of video surveillance alongside other consequences such as decreased job satisfaction and affective commitment [26].