SH318: Technical Skills Are Not Enough: Human Factors in Diving and the Difference Between Chaos and Coordination

Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving · Oct 28, 2026 · 23m

This blog compares two diving emergencies at the same dive centre to show why technical competence alone is not enough. In the first incident, a diver survived, but the instructors struggled to coordinate because they had only received a basic introduction to Human Factors in Diving. Roles were unclear, communication became fragmented and attention narrowed to the immediate problem. Before the second incident, the centre had changed how it worked: instructors had completed HFiD: Applied Skills, and the Course Director had made Human Factors part of everyday operations. When a student suffered…