Counter-Errorism in Diving: Applying Human Factors to Diving27 Jun

SH291: What the Data Told Us: Fear, Trust, and the Stories That Never Get Told. Part 2 of 3.

This blog explains how a mixed-methods study explored why divers struggle to share honest, learning-focused stories about incidents. Using a large international survey, focus groups, and expert interviews, the research found that storytelling is strongly shaped by organisational culture, fear, and trust. Many divers—especially instructors—fear legal consequences, criticism, or damage to their reputation, which stops them from speaking openly, particularly in public settings. At the same time, there is confusion about key ideas like what counts as an “incident,” what “risk” really means, and what a “just culture” looks like, with very few divers linking incidents to learning. The study also showed that when stories include more context, people are less likely to judge and more likely to learn, but most divers are not taught how to do this. Overall, the findings suggest the diving community knows that sharing near-misses and building a just culture would improve safety, but lacks the trust, understanding, and organisational support needed to make that happen.

Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/msc-part-2-the-data-and-results

Links and references: British Diving Safety Groiup: https://bdsg.org.uk/

Chan, W. T.-K., & Li, W.-C. (2023). Development of effective human factors interventions for aviation safety management. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1144921. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1144921

EC. (2014). Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014. European Commission.

Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315543543

Tags: THD-English| THD-Learning, Incidents & Just Culture

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Episoder(312)

SH312: Your Body Can't Cash the Cheque Your Ego Is Writing

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SH310: 2. More Than a Deep Dive: What a WWII Bomber Recovery Can Teach Us About Human Factors

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SH309: Change around Safety Culture is Really Hard

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SH308: We Know, and We Say Nothing

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16 Sep 17min

SH307: 1. The 2026 HF in Diving Conference - What Did You Miss?

This episode explores how a restorative just culture can help the diving community respond to incidents in a way that promotes learning rather than blame. Instead of focusing only on who broke the rul...

9 Sep 15min

SH306: Restorative Just Culture: Repairing Trust After an Event

This episode explores the difference between a retributive approach to diving incidents, which focuses on blame and punishment, and a restorative just culture, which focuses on learning, repair, and p...

2 Sep 4min

SH305: Cause Reason. Excuse. Three Words Doing Three Very Different Things.

This episode explores an important distinction that is often missed when discussing diving incidents: the difference between a cause, a reason, and an excuse. A cause explains what contributed to an e...

26 Aug 9min