All Episodes
Episodes
SH162: Plan to fail safely - teaching students/candidates for the real world
In this episode, we explore the importance of preparing for failure in diving education, inspired by Hal Watts' quote: âThe most dangerous thing about diving is divers themselves.â Using a real-life example from a...
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SH161: âOne mistake and you are deadâ â isnât how accidents normally happen
In this episode, we explore the dangers of "normalisation of deviance"âthe gradual erosion of safety standards through repeated shortcutsâand its impact on rebreather diving and other high-risk activities. Drawing on...
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SH160: Outcomes are so sexy and attractiveâŚ
This episode dives into the critical role of human factors in safety, using a tragic aviation incident and its parallels in diving to illustrate how distractions, pressures, and systemic issues contribute to...
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SH159: The best is the enemy of the good
In this episode, a newly qualified Human Factors in Diving Instructor shares their journey of grappling with impostor syndrome and the challenges of teaching human factors to divers. Despite over a decade of diving...
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SH158: Predictive Profiling & diving: âwhat deviates, deserves attention!â
This episode dives into the critical importance of recognizing deviations from the norm in diving, a concept rooted in situational awareness. Inspired by the 1972 attack at Lod Airport, Bart den Ouden draws parallels...
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SH157: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
In this episode, we explore the pitfalls of blindly trusting technology through two cautionary talesâone about a GPS mishap in snowy Quebec and another about divers relying solely on their computers. Automation offers...
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SH156: CCR pre-dive checks and checklists are not always enough to prevent an equipment-based accident!
In this episode, we explore how safety in diving is not just about avoiding accidents but about building systems that can fail safely. Drawing on a real-life incident shared by Phil Short, we examine how a small...
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SH155: How safe is your diving?
In this episode, we dive into the concept of psychological safety and its critical role in diving and team performance. Psychological safety, defined as a shared belief that it's safe to take interpersonal risks,...
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SH154: The Importance of Decision Making in Setting Goals: Ensuring âThe Juice is worth the Squeezeâ
In this episode, we explore the double-edged nature of goal settingâhow it drives achievement but can also lead to risky decisions when pressure and commitment override safety and judgment. Using examples from...
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SH153: Why âThey should haveâ, â...could haveâ or âI would have..â do not improve diving safety
In this episode, we explore the concept of counterfactual reasoningâour tendency to imagine how incidents could have been avoided by different actionsâand why it falls short in improving safety. While this type of...
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SH152: The Bend is Uninteresting...The Related Decisions Are Much More So
In this episode, we explore a personal account of a Garethâs experience with decompression sickness (DCS) and the critical decision-making process that followed. The story dives into the internal monologue, biases,...
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SH151: When the holes line up...
In this episode, we explore Professor James Reason's Swiss Cheese Model, which helps explain how incidents occur when multiple safety barriers fail at different levels within a system. We discuss how organizational,...
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