Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving

This episode explains how Non-Technical Skills (NTS) and Human Factors in Diving (HFiD) only work when they become part of everyday diving culture, not just a course or a checklist. Real safety comes from how divers think, communicate, make decisions, and work as teams, not just from technical skills or equipment. It highlights the importance of shared language, reducing hierarchy, encouraging people to speak up, honest debriefs, and creating psychological safety so divers feel comfortable asking questions and raising concerns. For teams and dive centres, this means building strong technical foundations, teaching communication and decision-making skills, talking openly about risk versus reward, and making reflection and learning part of daily practice. The key message is that safer diving comes from habits, culture, and behaviour over time — not one-off training — where teams learn together, support each other, and keep working to be better than yesterday.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-practical-ways-of-bringing-hf-nts-into-divingLinks: Last weeks blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/would-you-speak-up-to-the-commanderBehavioural Marker SchemeBuilding psychological safety blogs: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/team-building-psych-safety-1Nic Emery’s blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/what-are-we-pretending-not-to-knowDEBrIEF framework: https://www.thehumandiver.com/debriefTags: English| Operations & Procedures

This episode explores why real learning in diving is harder than buying new gear or following checklists. It explains how divers, like firefighters and oil and gas workers, often struggle to change habits, question tradition, and speak up in teams, even when something feels wrong. The problem isn’t a lack of training or information, but culture — things like hierarchy, fear of blame, and not feeling safe to challenge more experienced people. The key message is that safer diving doesn’t come from more equipment or more rules, but from better communication, shared learning, honest debriefs, and strong non-technical skills like teamwork, awareness, and decision-making. Real change only happens when these behaviours become everyday habits, not one-off courses, and when teams create an environment where people feel safe to learn, ask questions, and improve together.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/would-you-speak-up-to-the-commanderLinks: If Only… documentary and workbook: https://www.thehumandiver.com/ifonly2026 HFiD: Conference: https://www.hf-in-diving-conference.com/Nic’s blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/what-are-we-pretending-not-to-knowScuba Adventures, TX: https://www.scubaplano.com/TekDeep Asia: https://tekdeep.com/author/marccrane/Part 2: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/the-practical-ways-of-bringing-hf-nts-into-divingTags: English| Operations & Procedures

This episode looks at the limits of planning and equipment in technical and cave diving, and explains why true safety comes from adaptability, not control. Using a powerful real-life cave diving story, it shows how even the best plans can fail, and how survival often depends on calm thinking, core skills, and the ability to solve problems when things go wrong. The key idea is that risk can’t be removed from diving — it can only be managed — and focusing only on gear and procedures can create a false sense of security. Real safety comes from strong fundamentals, simple systems, realistic training, and learning how to stay calm and think clearly under pressure. The message is clear: the safest divers aren’t the ones with the most equipment or the most detailed plans, but the ones with the skills, mindset, and resilience to adapt when the unexpected happens.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-technical-cave-divers-decision-making-to-manage-risk-we-have-to-be-exposed-to-uncertainty-and-harmTags: English| Education & Content Type

This episode challenges the idea that more experience automatically means safer diving. Using research from aviation and real diving examples, it shows that what really matters is not how many dives you’ve done, but how you see and understand risk. Two people can face the same situation and make very different choices, not because of skill, but because of how dangerous it feels to them. The key message is that experience without reflection can lead to complacency, where risky behaviour starts to feel normal. Safer divers are the ones who think about their decisions, talk openly with their team, learn from near-misses and “no-go” choices, and keep questioning what feels routine. True competence comes from awareness, reflection, and honest communication, not just time underwater or the number of dives in a logbook.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-technical-cave-divers-situation-awareness-risk-perception-is-a-critical-skill-experience-doesn-t-equal-judgementLinks: Normalisation of deviance blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/normalisation-of-deviance-not-about-rule-breakingDrinkwater, J. L., & Molesworth, B. R. C. (2010). Pilot see, pilot do: Examining the predictors of pilots’ risk management behaviour. Safety Science, 48(10), 1445–1451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2010.07.001Tags: English| Education & Content Type

This episode explores how everyday conversations between divers, even simple small talk, play a powerful role in building trust and safety. It introduces the idea of the “Communication Triangle,” showing how teams move from polite, surface-level talk to deeper, more honest communication that allows people to speak up, share concerns, and admit mistakes. Using real diving examples, it shows how accidents are often caused not by lack of skill, but by people not feeling safe enough to say something. The core message is simple: strong diving teams are built through open communication, trust, and psychological safety, where everyone feels able to speak honestly. When divers move beyond politeness and build real connection, decision-making improves, learning grows, and safety becomes a natural result.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-technical-cave-divers-psychological-safety-and-just-cultureTags: English| Education & Content Type

Technical diving often looks like it’s all about planning, rules, and equipment, but the biggest risk factor is still the human. This episode explores how “Performance Influencing Factors” (PIFs) like fatigue, stress, environment, team pressure, and mental overload can affect even experienced divers, sometimes without them realising it. Using a real dive story, it shows how small human issues can stack up and lead to mistakes, even when procedures are followed. The key message is that safe technical diving isn’t just about good gear and checklists, it’s about self-awareness, teamwork, honest communication, and planning for human error. When divers understand their limits, support each other, and build safety margins into every dive, they don’t just dive better — they dive safer.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-technical-divers-performance-influencing-factors-even-the-best-of-us-are-only-humanLinks: Showing vulnerability: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/the-challenge-of-psychological-safetyNormalisation of Deviance: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/normalization-of-deviance-risk-how-socially-accepted-drift-can-impact-your-divingTags: English| Education & Content Type

This episode looks at the idea that all technical divers are leaders, even if they don’t see themselves that way, because their experience, behaviour, and decisions influence others in the water. Leadership in diving isn’t about giving orders; it’s about building trust, staying calm, communicating clearly, and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up. The discussion explains how leadership roles in technical diving can change during a dive and highlights key qualities of good leaders, such as technical competence, good decision-making, strong situation awareness, and leading by example. It also shares practical tips, like fostering psychological safety, being consistent with procedures, understanding and explaining the reasons behind decisions, and always trying to improve. The main message is simple: as a technical diver, you are a role model, and by being the diver you would want to follow, you can help your whole team dive more safely and effectively.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-technical-cave-divers-leadershipTags: - english cave diving human factors lanny vogel leadership psychological safety technical diving

This episode explores why teamwork is a critical survival skill in technical diving, not just a nice extra. Using a real training story where a teammate caught a dangerous mistake during an emergency drill, it shows how even well-trained divers can fail under pressure and why a strong team can prevent small errors from becoming fatal. Technical diving involves higher risks, more complex equipment, and smaller margins for error, which means no diver, no matter how self-reliant, can be their own backup for everything. Effective teams plan dives together, position themselves deliberately, use clear and layered communication, manage ego and authority, practise emergencies as a group, and debrief honestly to improve the next dive. The key message is simple: great gear matters, but a cohesive, well-practised team is just as important, because in technical diving, your team is part of your life support.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/Top%20Tips%20for%20Technical%20Divers:%20Teamwork%20-%20It%27s%20more%20than%20a%20back%20up%20planTags: mike mason teamwork

This episode looks at why communication in technical and cave diving often fails, even between skilled and experienced divers. Using two real dive stories, it shows how serious risks can come from small breakdowns, such as mislabelled gas bottles or missed signals during a valve problem, and how teams often rely on assumptions rather than confirmation. A key message is that sending a message does not mean it has been understood, especially when stress, task overload, poor visibility, hierarchy, or equipment get in the way. Communication in diving is not just hand signals or words, but also lights, behaviour, technology, and the environment itself. To reduce errors, teams need clear briefings, shared mental models, closed-loop communication, and honest debriefs that explore what really happened, not just whether the dive ended safely. Improving communication is about slowing down, checking understanding, and creating a team culture where questions and challenges are welcomed before small issues turn into big ones.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-technical-cave-divers-communicationTags: - english communication gareth lock teamwork

This episode explores how instructor decisions in diving are shaped long before an accident happens, often by habit, pressure, and past success rather than careful thought. Using real-world accounts from a fatal training dive in poor visibility, it shows how instructors often rely on fast, instinctive decision-making that usually works but can fail when conditions are complex, rushed, or risky. When dives end without incident, messy decisions often get hidden behind a “successful outcome,” which can lead to normalising higher levels of risk over time. The key message is to separate luck from skill, challenge assumptions, and judge decisions by how they made sense at the time, not just by the outcome. Simple tools like pausing to ask why you’re acting, what you expect to happen next, and whether the risk matches the benefit can slow thinking and improve safety. Reflective debriefs and open sharing of near-misses help instructors learn, adapt, and make better decisions before small issues line up into serious harm.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-decision-making-the-big-ones-not-the-little-onesLinks: Learning in the Heat of the Moment: An Interview With Sabrina Cohen-Hatton‘Storytelling to learn’Tags: - english decision-making gareth lock instructors top tips

This episode looks at a common teaching challenge: when a student can complete the required skills but still isn’t ready to be certified. Through a personal story, the author explains how the missing piece was situation awareness — the ability to notice what’s happening, understand what it means, and think ahead. The student was using so much mental effort just to manage basic skills like buoyancy and trim that there was no capacity left to track their buddy, navigation, or decompression. The key lesson is that learning and performance are limited by mental capacity, and when students are overloaded, awareness drops. Instructors can help by building basic skills slowly, watching for signs of overload, using debriefs to understand where attention was focused, sharing their own experiences, and remembering that instructors can lose awareness too. Developing situation awareness takes time, practice, and the right focus — and recognising this helps instructors support students more effectively.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-instructors-situation-awarenessTags: - english jenny lord situation awareness situational awareness

This episode explores why calling a dive can be harder in practice than the famous “any diver can end any dive” rule suggests, especially for instructors under time, money, or reputation pressure. Using a real cave-diving example, the blog shows how small equipment issues and disrupted routines created warning signs that the team wasn’t ready, even though nothing had gone seriously wrong yet. The dive was safely called, and the team later recognised how important psychological safety was in making that decision feel acceptable and supported. The key message is that psychological safety — feeling able to speak up, admit mistakes, or stop without fear of criticism — is essential for safe and effective training. Instructors play a major role in creating this by staying calm under pressure, reacting constructively to small problems, and leading by example when it’s time to call a dive.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-psychological-safety-and-the-thumb-ruleLinks: Some previous blogs about psychological safety:https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/HFforD-part-10-psychological-safetyhttps://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/what-if-just-culture-and-psychological-safety-is-not-enoughhttps://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/the-challenge-of-psychological-safetyhttps://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/what-we-get-wrong-about-psychological-safety-in-divinghttps://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-beginner-divers-psychological-safety-just-culturehttps://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/team-building-psych-safety-1 - Part one of a four-part series.Tags: - english cave diving human factors lanny vogel psychological safety teamwork top tips training

This episode looks at why students — and instructors — sometimes struggle in dive training, even when the skills seem simple, and explains how performance is shaped by more than just ability. Factors like fatigue, stress, cold, time pressure, anxiety, social expectations, and difficult conditions can all affect how people think, learn, and perform. When these pressures stack up, students may panic or stall, and instructors may rush, lose patience, or make poor decisions. The key message is that good instruction means recognising these performance influences early, managing what you can, and adapting your teaching and self-care to match the situation. By slowing down, checking in, normalising mistakes, managing comfort and stress, and using thoughtful debriefs, instructors can create safer, more effective learning environments where both students and teachers perform at their best.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-performance-influencing-factorsLinks: Blog about having difficult conversations: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-communication-the-difficult-kindTags: - english fatigue mike mason performance influencing factors performance shaping factors stress

This episode explores why people in diving often don’t speak up, even when something feels unsafe, and why being “heard” matters just as much as being allowed to talk. Using a real boat-diving story, it shows how authority gaps, hero culture, social media status, and tight-knit groups can silence both new and experienced divers. Research highlights that people stay quiet mainly because they fear looking bad or upsetting others, not because they lack knowledge. Titles, reputation, and tribal loyalty can make unsafe decisions hard to challenge, while weak feedback systems hide problems rather than fix them. The key message is that safety depends on leaders actively creating spaces where speaking up is worthwhile, not risky, by listening with curiosity, lowering power barriers, valuing informal conversations, and rewarding honesty over conformity. In diving, real learning starts when people feel they belong, can question decisions, and know their voice will truly be heard.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-leadership-creating-the-space-for-others-to-be-heardLinks: One of the studies by ReitzGareth’s MSc research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRXqeQvRFK0&t=4sLinnea Mills caseBrian Bugge caseTags: - english gareth lock instructors leadership psychological safety top tips

This episode looks at what happens when a dive “team” isn’t really functioning as a team, using a real training story where strong individual skills weren’t enough to prevent things going wrong under stress. The key lesson is that the problem wasn’t technical ability, but poor teamwork: misaligned goals, weak communication, low trust, and a lack of shared awareness. Research shows that what really makes teams perform well is not personality, confidence, or experience, but social intelligence – the ability to read others, notice stress or confusion, ask good questions, and adapt when plans change. These team skills matter just as much as buoyancy, gas planning, or drills, especially in demanding environments like technical diving. The episode explains why teamwork must be taught and practised deliberately, not assumed, and offers practical ideas for instructors and divers: train teamwork on purpose, model good team behaviour, debrief the whole team, pay attention to emotional cues, and redefine success as how well the team worked together under pressure. In short, safe and effective diving depends on strong teams, not just strong individuals.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-teamworkLinks: Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Team Performance study by Ben Weidmann and David DemingMore 'Top Tips for Diving Instructors' blogsGuy’s blog about teaching teamwork: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/HF_Into_ArchaeologyDEBrIEF model: https://www.thehumandiver.com/debriefTags: - english communication gareth lock instructors teamwork top tips

This episode explains why the diving industry struggles to learn from fatalities and argues that the problem is not one bad decision or one person, but the whole system. Using the death of 18-year-old diver Linnea Mills as an example, it shows how normal people, doing what made sense at the time, can be caught by gaps in training, supervision, equipment, communication, and emergency planning. The focus is on moving beyond neat, blame-based “first stories” and instead telling messier “second stories” that explore context, pressure, trade-offs, and gradual drift away from safety margins. The episode looks at ideas like normalisation of deviance, weak feedback loops, authority gradients, and the gap between what rules say should happen and what really happens on dives. The key message is that safety improves when we change conditions, not just criticise people: by building psychological safety, matching supervision to the real task, checking equipment properly, planning for emergencies that fit the location, learning from near misses, and raising standards above the bare minimum. Learning from tragedy requires courage, honest stories, and system-level change, but it is possible—and it starts before the next dive.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/we-don-t-learn-from-diving-fatalities-and-here-s-whyLinks: Webinar about Linnea Mills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu4tc8gtNio&t=3sNo learning focused investigation process in diving: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/learning-reviews-in-divingCompliance can give an illusion of safety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNhmxz2_adcWhat conditions made it harder to do the ‘right’ thing and easier to do the ‘wrong’ thing?Creating the conditions and space for speaking up: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-leadership-creating-the-space-for-others-to-be-heardHaving difficult conversations as an instructor: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-communication-the-difficult-kindTEDS open question acronym: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/communications-ask-better-questionsPsychological safety blogs: Blog 1. Blog 2. Blog 3. Blog 4. Blog 5.Debrief model: https://www.thehumandiver.com/debriefDiving Talks video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNhmxz2_adcChild welfare changes: https://www.collaborative-safety.com/collaborative-safety-reading-packetTags: - english gareth lock safety safety culture system safety

Many dive instructors are facing a growing challenge: some students believe that paying for a course means they are guaranteed a certification card. This can lead to difficult conversations when an instructor decides a student needs more time to reach a safe and confident level, even if they attended all sessions and tried hard. This episode explores why clear communication is essential, especially before a course begins, so students understand that they are paying for training, not an automatic qualification. It explains the importance of describing why standards exist, using kind and supportive language, staying firm but empathetic, and normalising the idea that people learn at different speeds. By setting expectations early, explaining decisions clearly, and being honest and caring in tough moments, instructors can protect safety, maintain trust, and help students see certification as something earned through readiness, not something bought.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-communication-the-difficult-kindTags: - english communication instructors mike mason

This episode explores how the diving community responds when something goes badly wrong and why the choice between blame and learning really matters. Drawing on three university research projects, it explains that after serious incidents people look for meaning through justice, learning, and sometimes punishment, and that visible learning can itself be a form of justice. The episode looks at why divers often struggle to share honest stories about near misses and accidents, including fear of judgment, legal worries, and online criticism, and why sharing clear, context-rich stories is essential for real safety improvement. It also explains that accountability is not just about finding fault but about choosing fair, forward-looking ways to improve systems, training, and teamwork. The key message is that diving becomes safer when we replace silence and scapegoating with open storytelling, curiosity, and accountability that focuses on learning and change rather than blame.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/asking-why-telling-stories-and-owning-accountability-lessons-for-divingLinks: The three theses: Møller (2023), Lock (2024), Parris (2025)Summary of Lock’s thesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRXqeQvRFK0&t=3sChanging the language to help learning: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/change-your-language-change-the-worldDEBrIEF model: https://www.thehumandiver.com/debriefThe documentaries ‘If Only…’ and ‘Just a Routine Operation’Tags: English, Gareth Lock, Incident Reporting, Just Culture, Psychological Safety

This episode looks at how many decisions can happen during a single dive and why decision-making is often harder underwater, especially for new divers. Using a real-world wreck dive story, it shows how focus on a goal, strong currents, stress, and missed checks can slowly lead to poor outcomes, even when basic skills are sound. The discussion explains how pressure, mental overload, common thinking biases, limited experience, and social influences can affect the choices divers make without them realising it. It also introduces simple, practical tools—like clear dive plans with decision points, pausing to reassess when stressed, regular scanning of key information, and honest post-dive debriefs—to help divers recognise problems earlier and make safer decisions. The key message is that good decisions are a skill that can be learned, and every dive is a chance to improve judgment and dive more safely.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-beginner-divers-decision-makingTags: English, Beginners, Cognitive Biases, Decision Making, Gareth Lock

In this episode, we explore situation awareness, a key skill that helps divers notice what’s happening around them, understand what it means, and anticipate what might happen next. Using a personal story from a first open water dive, we show how beginners often rely on instructors to manage the “big picture” and don’t realise how much awareness is needed until they dive on their own. The episode explains why situation awareness is harder for new divers, introduces the simple three-step model of perception, understanding, and prediction, and shares practical tips to build this skill from the very start, such as good dive briefings, clear communication, staying curious, managing stress, and learning from debriefs. The key message is that situation awareness is a skill anyone can develop, and improving it makes diving safer, calmer, and more enjoyable.Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-beginner-divers-situation-awarenessLinks: Blog about dive briefings: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/Why%20are%20dive%20briefings%20important%3F%20How%20to%20deliver%20them%20effectivelyBlog about debriefing: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/debriefing-a-challenging-dive-a-real-life-experienceBlog about communication: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/top-tips-for-beginner-divers-communicationTags: English, Beginners, Mike Mason, Situation Awareness, Situational Awareness