Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving

Gareth Lock at The Human Diver

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.

  1. SH287: When the Picture Goes Dark

    2d ago

    SH287: When the Picture Goes Dark

    This episode explores why divers don’t truly “lose” situation awareness, but instead run out of the mental capacity needed to maintain it. Through the story of James on a challenging wreck dive, it shows how increasing demands—like current, task focus, and effort—can quietly narrow attention until the bigger picture is lost, even when skills and training are sound. Using two human factors models, COCOM and ECOM, the discussion explains how control shifts from broad, strategic thinking to narrow, reactive behavior as workload rises, and how different layers of awareness—from basic task execution to overall planning—can break down under pressure. It highlights that mistakes are often not about poor decisions, but about limited cognitive resources in the moment. The episode also emphasizes the importance of good preparation, clear decision thresholds, teamwork, and deliberate pauses to manage workload, while showing how reflection after the dive helps improve future performance. Ultimately, it reframes the difference between novice and experienced divers as the ability to manage attention and maintain the bigger picture, not just technical skill. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-picture-went-dark Links: A 2026 study in Safety Science by Woltjer and colleagues: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822 Part two: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-obvious-thing-nobody-noticed Tags: English| Sense-making, Decision-making, & Psychology

    16 min
  2. SH286: The Shortcut That Gets You Home — and the One That Doesn't

    5d ago

    SH286: The Shortcut That Gets You Home — and the One That Doesn't

    Divers make many decisions quickly, often without realising it, by using heuristics—mental shortcuts that help us act fast when time and information are limited. These shortcuts are essential and often effective, especially with experience, but they can also lead to predictable errors called biases when used in the wrong situation. Common examples include relying too much on recent experience, sticking to an original plan despite changing conditions, or only noticing information that supports what we already believe. In diving, where conditions vary and feedback is often limited, these biases can quietly increase risk. The key is not to avoid intuition, but to understand when it might be misleading and to slow down when needed. Tools like checklists, realistic training, and open team communication help balance fast thinking with more careful decision-making, improving safety and helping divers make better choices underwater. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/shortcuts-errors-and-the-gap Links: Gigerenzer’s push for people to be “risk savvy”: https://www.jasoncollins.blog/posts/nudging-citizens-to-be-risk-savvy Blog about the Scylla wreck tragedy: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/scylla-wreck-penetration-leodsi Blog about the IJN Sata incident: https://wreckedinmyrevo.com/2023/11/16/close-call-on-the-ijn-sata-palau-120-fsw/ Tags: English| Sense-making, Decision-making, & Psychology

    10 min
  3. SH285: When Skill Alone Isn't Enough: The Resilient Performance Model

    Jun 6

    SH285: When Skill Alone Isn't Enough: The Resilient Performance Model

    Diving operations rarely fail because people lack skill; they fail when skilled individuals are not supported by the systems around them. The Resilient Performance Model from The Human Diver explains that performance comes from the interaction of three areas: technical skills, non-technical skills like communication and decision-making, and the wider context such as culture, workload, and resources. When one of these areas is weak or missing, problems appear—such as highly skilled divers working in silence, well-coordinated teams lacking critical skills, or strong systems where people feel unable to challenge decisions. True resilience happens when all three are aligned, allowing teams to adapt when things go wrong and still achieve safe outcomes. The key lesson is that improving safety isn’t just about better training or stricter procedures, but about creating an environment where people can speak up, make good decisions under pressure, and learn from both successes and failures to improve over time. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/resilient-performance-model Tags: Commercial Diving

    12 min
  4. SH284: LEODSI and PETTEOT: A Systems Approach for Understanding How Diving Really Works

    Jun 3

    SH284: LEODSI and PETTEOT: A Systems Approach for Understanding How Diving Really Works

    When something goes wrong in diving, people often ask “who made the mistake?”, but that question usually oversimplifies what really happened and stops us from learning. The Learning from Emergent Outcomes framework (LEODSI) takes a different approach by looking at diving as a system, where outcomes are shaped by many interacting factors rather than one person’s actions. It examines seven key elements—people, environment, tasks, equipment, external pressures, organisation, and time—to understand how decisions made sense in the moment and how conditions combined to produce the result. Instead of blaming individuals, LEODSI focuses on why events unfolded the way they did, recognising that both successes and failures come from the same system. By using this approach in everyday debriefs, not just after incidents, divers and teams can learn more effectively, improve safety, and make meaningful changes that reduce risk in the future. https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/what-is-leodsi-petteot Links: Learning from Emergent Outcomes course: https://www.thehumandiver.com/lfeo Tags: Learning, Incidents & Just Culture

    12 min
  5. SH283: You're Accountable. You're Responsible. You're It!

    May 30

    SH283: You're Accountable. You're Responsible. You're It!

    This piece explores how diving incidents are often misunderstood by focusing too quickly on blame rather than learning. It explains the important difference between responsibility (who was involved) and accountability (who answers for the outcome), showing that incidents are usually caused by a chain of decisions, pressures, and system factors—not just one person’s mistake. By comparing “blame questions” (who is at fault?) with “learning questions” (why did it make sense at the time?), it highlights how real improvement comes from understanding the conditions that led to an error. Through examples like missed safety checks, risky habits becoming normal, ignored concerns, and unreported near-misses, the text shows how blame cultures stop people speaking up and allow problems to grow. Instead, it argues for a learning-focused approach where divers, instructors, and organisations reflect on decision-making, encourage honest reporting, and examine the wider system. The key message is that accountability should not be about punishment, but about creating an environment where people can speak openly, learn from mistakes, and prevent future incidents. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/youre-accountable-youre-responsible-youre-it Links: Blog about the Scylla wreck incident: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/scylla-wreck-penetration-leodsi IJN SATA case study: https://wreckedinmyrevo.com/2023/11/16/close-call-on-the-ijn-sata-palau-120-fsw/ Blog about Linnea Mills: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/linnea-mills-death-hf-systems-lens PDF guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ugx0lQM5am2gQ9rJa4aCq39JBukGZyLK/view?usp=sharing Ruth Parris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-parris-76a53635/ Ruth’s thesis: https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/9186204 Tags: English| Learning, Incidents & Just Culture

    18 min
  6. SH282: Isolation Amplifies Drift: When Remote Operations Make Small Deviations Invisible

    May 27

    SH282: Isolation Amplifies Drift: When Remote Operations Make Small Deviations Invisible

    This blog by Michael John Snow explores how small equipment issues on a remote expedition vessel can gradually become accepted as “normal,” not because of poor decisions, but because of how isolated systems work. In these environments, teams are skilled and focused on keeping operations running, especially when guests, tight schedules, and limited support make stopping costly. With fewer external checks and less immediate feedback, minor irregularities are often monitored rather than acted on, and over time they fade into the background. This process, known as normalization of deviation, slowly shifts what is seen as acceptable without anyone clearly deciding to take a risk. When a problem finally forces action, it can look sudden, but it is usually the result of many reasonable choices made over time. The key message is that this isn’t about individual failure, but about system design: isolation reduces challenge, delays response, and makes it easier for risk to build unnoticed. To manage this, the blog argues that remote operations need stronger structures—like clear governance, tracking, and shared visibility of equipment performance—so that small issues stay visible and are addressed before they become bigger problems. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/isolation-amplifies-drift Links: Governance mechanisms: https://remoteassetgovernance.com/framework Tags: English| Operations & Procedures

    11 min
  7. SH281: HMS Scylla Wreck Penetration Tragedy: Two Perspectives on Learning

    May 23

    SH281: HMS Scylla Wreck Penetration Tragedy: Two Perspectives on Learning

    This episode looks at the 2021 wreck diving tragedy on HMS Scylla, where three experienced divers entered the wreck and only one survived. It first examines the kind of reaction often seen on social media, where the incident is explained as a series of obvious mistakes made by individuals. It then explores the same event using a human factors and systems approach called LEODSI, which looks at how people, environment, equipment, tasks, organisational culture, and time interact to shape decisions and outcomes. Instead of asking “who failed?”, this perspective asks how normal behaviour, built on experience, trust, and familiar conditions, can combine with changing environments, increasing stress, and limited time to slowly reduce safety margins. By understanding how these factors interacted to produce the outcome, the aim is to help the diving community learn in a deeper way and improve the overall system so that safer decisions become easier and tragedies like this are less likely to happen. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/scylla-wreck-penetration-leodsi Links: Interview with Adam on the Deep Wreck Diver Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMYKjZocins Linnea Mills Case: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/linnea-mills-death-hf-systems-lens Death of a 12 year old in Texas during Open Water training: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/learning-from-tragedy-dh Learning from Emergent Outcomes: https://www.thehumandiver.com/lfeo Dive Talk review of the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvCr3_pX4a4 Tags: English| Learning, Incidents & Just Culture

    37 min
  8. SH280: This Could Happen to Any Dive Operator: What We Can Really Learn From The Perth Diving Academy Incident

    May 20

    SH280: This Could Happen to Any Dive Operator: What We Can Really Learn From The Perth Diving Academy Incident

    This episode explores the serious incident in which two divers were accidentally left behind by a dive boat near Rottnest Island while diving with Perth Diving Academy. Rather than treating it as the failure of one operator, the discussion looks at how a simple error—such as a headcount mistake—can reveal deeper weaknesses in safety systems that may exist across the dive charter industry. It explains how many operations rely on habits, assumptions, and informal checks that usually work, but can fail when conditions change. The episode also looks at the limits of fines and punishment, which rarely help the wider industry learn unless there is transparency about what actually went wrong. Instead of blaming a “bad operator,” the focus is on understanding how safety systems drift over time, why single points of failure are dangerous, and how stronger safety comes from multiple checks, open feedback from staff and customers, and a culture of continuous improvement that looks for problems before they turn into accidents. Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/this-could-happen-to-any-dive-operator Links: Australian Maritime Safety Authority: https://www.amsa.gov.au/ How we measure safety in diving: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/what-does-safe-mean Systems in diving: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-road-to-excellence-systems-and-structure-form-the-foundation-of-a-culture-of-improvement Tags: English| Learning, Incidents & Just Culture

    10 min
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About

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.

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