SH263: The desperate need for blame

Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving · Mar 21, 2026 · 13m

This episode tells the story of a calm, well-planned dive that still ended with an unexpected case of decompression sickness, and uses it to explore how people react when things go wrong. Even when the dive was conservative, the team experienced, and everything seemed to be done “right,” a diver still became unwell — showing that not all risks can be controlled or explained. The episode looks at our natural need to find someone or something to blame after accidents, and how this search for causes often comes from fear, not facts. It explains how people try to protect their sense of safety by…