Shows / Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
Human factors is a critical topic within the world of SCUBA diving, scientific diving, military diving, and commercial diving. This podcast is a mixture of interviews and 'shorts' which are audio versions of the weekly blog from The Human Diver. Each month we will look to have at least one interview and one case study discussion where we look at an event in detail and how human factors and non-technical skills contributed (or prevented) it from happening in the manner it did.
Episodes
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH262: So what can we do? The Practical Steps/Tools for Bringing HF/NTS into 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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH261: “Would you speak up to the Commander?” - “No. They already know” - Making changes to your team's diving
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH260: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Decision Making. To manage risk, we have to be exposed to uncertainty and harm
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH259: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Situation Awareness. Risk Perception is a critical skill - Experience Doesn’t Equal Judgement
This episode challenges the idea that more experience automatically means safer diving. Using research from aviation and real diving examples, it shows that…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH258: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Psychological Safety and Just Culture
This episode explores how everyday conversations between divers, even simple small talk, play a powerful role in building trust and safety. It introduces the…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH257: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Performance Influencing Factors - Even the best of us are only human
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH256: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers – Leadership
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH255: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Teamwork - It's more than a back up plan
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH254: Top Tips for Technical/Cave Divers: Communication
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH253: Top Tips for Diving Instructors: Decision Making
This episode explores how instructor decisions in diving are shaped long before an accident happens, often by habit, pressure, and past success rather than…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH252: Top Tips for Diving Instructors: Situation Awareness
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH251: Top Tips for Diving Instructors: Psychological Safety and the Thumb Rule
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH250: Top tips for Diving Instructors: Performance Influencing Factors
This episode looks at why students — and instructors — sometimes struggle in dive training, even when the skills seem simple, and explains how performance is…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH249: Top Tips for Diving Instructors: Leadership - Creating the space for others to be heard
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH248: Top Tips for Diving Instructors: Teamwork
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH247: At a system level, we don't learn from diving fatalities, and here's why
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH246: Top tips for Diving Instructors: Communication (especially the difficult kind)
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH245: Asking Why. Telling Stories. Owning Accountability
This episode explores how the diving community responds when something goes badly wrong and why the choice between blame and learning really matters. Drawing…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH244: Top Tips for Beginner Divers: Decision Making
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH243: Top Tips for Beginner Divers: Situation Awareness
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…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH242: Top Tips for Beginner Divers: Psychological Safety & Just Culture
In this episode, we follow Paul, a diver who joins an unfamiliar group and stays silent when he feels unsure, leading to stress, separation from the team, and…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH241: Top Tips for Beginner Divers: Performance Influencing Factors
This episode looks at Ellie’s first overseas dive trip, where she discovered that being “ready” on paper doesn’t always mean performing well in real life. Even…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH240: Top Tips for Beginner Divers Leadership and Followership
This episode explores what happened when an inexperienced diver, John, assumed he was “just meant to follow” his far more experienced buddy, Shona- and how a…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH239: Top Tips for Beginner Divers: Teamwork
In this episode, we look at how two new divers learned the hard way that being a true buddy team takes more than just diving side by side. A simple dive on a…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH238: Top tips for Beginner Divers: Communications
In this episode, we look at how a simple miscommunication during a fun dive turned into confusion, and why clear planning and shared understanding are…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH237: Decision Making: Normalisation of Deviance in Rebreather Cave Diving
In this episode, we explore how easy it is for divers to drift into unsafe habits when risky behaviour seems to have no consequences, especially in small or…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH236: Reframing The Dirty Dozen - Part 4
In this episode, we finish exploring the “Dirty Dozen” human factors that contribute to mistakes in diving by looking at fatigue, lack of assertiveness and…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH235: Reframing The Dirty Dozen - Part 3
In this episode, we continue exploring the “Dirty Dozen,” a set of human factors that can lead to mistakes in diving, by looking at pressure, lack of…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH234: Reframing The Dirty Dozen - Part 2
In Part 2 of this blog, we delve into three more of the "Dirty Dozen" human factors—stress, complacency, and lack of teamwork—and explore their impact on diver…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH233: Reframing The Dirty Dozen - Part 1
This week’s episode explores the interplay between human factors and system design in diving safety, using the “Dirty Dozen” as a framework to highlight key…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH232: Instructor Toxicity: Why one bad apple really does spoil the bunch
This blog by Pedro Paulo Cunha explores the critical role of leadership in dive safety, highlighting how a toxic leader at a dive resort created a culture of…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH231: What do you mean, the damn box is missing again?
Andrzej Gornicki reflects on the challenges of teamwork and organisation in diving operations, sharing lessons from his experience running a dive centre…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH230: What We Get Wrong About Psychological Safety in Diving
Psychological safety is more than a buzzword—it's a critical team skill in high-risk environments like diving. Often misunderstood, it's not about being nice…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH229: Debriefing a Challenging Dive- a real-life experience
Join us as we dive into a fascinating debrief from a Human Factors in Diving liveaboard trip, where a challenging dive sparked discussions on team…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH228: Designing Checklists that work. Slowing down to get it right.
Mike Mason explores how effective decision-making in diving depends on both intuitive (System 1) and analytical (System 2) thinking, highlighting the crucial…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH227: Navigating Online Narratives and Learning from Feedback in Diving
In this episode of The Human Diver, Mike Mason and I dive into the complexities of online storytelling, the double-edged nature of sharing experiences, and the…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH226: 'They Lost Situation Awareness'
The phrase "loss of situation awareness" is often misused as a simplistic explanation for diving incidents, focusing on blame rather than understanding the…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH225: The Challenge of Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is essential for building trust and fostering open communication in diving teams, yet creating it can be a challenge in high-pressure…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH224: CCR Diver Goes Hypoxic on Surface – What Causal Reasoning Taught Me About Learning from Events
In this episode, we examine a near-miss incident involving a CCR diver who narrowly avoided a hypoxic event during a liveaboard dive. Using this real-life…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH223: The Effect of your Environment on your Decision Making: Performance Shaping Factors in Diving
In this episode, we dive into the impact of human factors on decision-making in diving, focusing on how environmental elements like fatigue and cold…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH222: You can’t risk assess a hazard you don’t know about: DeltaP
In this episode, we explore the critical role of understanding hazards in diving and the importance of effective risk management. From the everyday threat of…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH221: The First Human Factors in Diving Liveaboard- Living our values
In this episode, we explore how a liveaboard trip in Indonesia integrated Human Factors training to transform the diving experience. Jenny Lord from The Human…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH220: I thought: "WTF did you just say?" I actually said: ....nothing. How to say when it’s not okay
Speaking up when something feels off—whether on the dive boat, in a briefing, or underwater—is key to building a safe and inclusive dive culture. In this…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH219: Why are dive briefings important? How to deliver them effectively
Effective dive briefings are key to safe and successful dives, yet many divers overlook their importance. In this episode, we explore how structured briefings…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH218: Being Understood, not just Transmitting
Show Notes Summary: In this episode, we dive into the challenges of effective communication, especially in multicultural and high-stakes environments like…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH217: Normalization of Deviance (Risk): How Socially Accepted Drift Can Impact Your Diving
Show Notes Summary: In this episode, we explore the concept of normalization of deviance and how it applies to diving. Inspired by a Divemaster's comment about…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH216: Diving Deep into Diving Safety: The death of Linnea Mills through a lens of HF and System Safety
Diving is often seen as a safe and relaxing sport, but true safety goes beyond avoiding accidents—it requires building resilience and learning from mistakes…
- Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving
SH215: Situation Awareness and Mental Models: Making it easier to the do the right thing
In this episode, we explore why situational awareness (SA) is the most critical skill for divers, even more so than technical abilities like buoyancy control…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH214: What if Just Culture and Psychological Safety is not enough?
In this episode, we explore the challenges and lessons from diving in the Baltic Sea, where high-pressure conditions tested both skill and decision-making. We…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH213: The Diving Professional: Leadership is not Optional
In this episode, we explore the critical role of leadership in diving, focusing on the responsibilities dive professionals take on as role models. From…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH212: Stress - A challenge we all face
The holiday season often highlights how stress can strain relationships and impact decision-making, both in everyday life and high-stakes activities like scuba…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH211: Teams. Buddies. The Difference.
In this episode, we dive into what makes an effective team, both above and below the surface. Using insights from a dive centre in Egypt, we explore how…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH210: Communications - Ask better questions
In this episode, we explore how asking the right questions can transform communication, whether during a dive briefing or a post-dive debrief. We discuss the…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH209: You're biased, I'm biased, We are all biased!
In this episode, we explore how cognitive biases like hindsight bias, severity bias, outcome bias, and confirmation bias impact our ability to learn from…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH208: The Lost Fin: A Lesson in Situation Awareness
In this episode, we dive into the story of a diver’s lost fin to explore the challenges of decision-making, task fixation, and situation awareness underwater…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH207: Change your Language. Change the World
This podcast dives into the analysis of a cave diving fatality at Cenote Nariz in Mexico, based on a detailed report by the Creer Line and Safety Committee…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH206: Single Diver Fatality in Cenote Nariz, 3 February 2024. CREER Report
This podcast dives into the analysis of a cave diving fatality at Cenote Nariz in Mexico, based on a detailed report by the CREER Line and Safety Committee…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH205: What one thing...
This episode explores the power of small, intentional changes to improve teamwork, leadership, and performance in diving. Drawing from the Human Diver team's…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH204: Follow me! Trust me! I am your Leader!
Leadership in diving is critical for navigating uncertain situations and achieving successful outcomes, whether you're teaching students, leading a dive…
Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to DivingSH203: The Importance of Psychological Safety in Debriefs
Debriefs are vital for learning and improvement, but making them effective can be challenging. This episode explores how the DEBrIEF framework, inspired by…