by 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.
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Publishing Since
10/1/2023
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June 20, 2026
<p>This episode examines a 2012 triple fatality at Cenote Chac Mool in Mexico using a Human Factors approach, showing how accidents are rarely caused by a single mistake but by a combination of small, interacting factors. A guide took two recreational divers beyond safe limits into an overhead cave environment without a continuous guideline, and all three ran out of gas and died. Instead of simply blaming the guide, the analysis explores how things made sense at the time, including authority gradients that stopped the divers from questioning decisions, fatigue from multiple dives, pressure to show something impressive, and increasing task load in a complex environment. Using the PETTEOT framework, the case highlights how people, environment, equipment, organisational culture, and time pressures combined to reduce safety margins until there was no capacity left to recover. The key lesson is that safety depends on understanding these system interactions, building psychological safety so people can speak up, and reinforcing clear rules and preparation to prevent small, “normal” deviations from turning into fatal outcomes.</p><p>Original blog: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/chac-mool-triple-diving-fatality" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/chac-mool-triple-diving-fatality</a></u></p><p>Links: Full CREER manual: <u><a href="https://creer-mx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Manual-for-Cenote-Dive-Guides-vs010324.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://creer-mx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Manual-for-Cenote-Dive-Guides-vs010324.pdf</a></u></p><p>The Thumb rule: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-psychological-safety-and-the-thumb-rule" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/top-tips-for-diving-instructors-psychological-safety-and-the-thumb-rule</a></u></p><p>Learning from Emergent Outcomes course waiting list: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/lfeo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/lfeo</a></u></p><p>Tags: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a></u>|<a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/learning-JC-incidents" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/learning-JC-incidents" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learning, Incidents & Just Culture</a></u></p>
June 17, 2026
<p>This episode explores the fatal case of 18-year-old Linnea Mills to show how visible hazards can go unnoticed when an instructor lacks the mental capacity to recognise them. Linnea was overweighted, unable to inflate her drysuit, and using equipment that couldn’t provide enough lift—risks that seem obvious in hindsight but were missed due to a combination of inexperience, time pressure, unfamiliar gear, and commercial expectations. Using models like ECOM and COCOM, the episode explains how an instructor’s attention can be consumed by immediate tasks, leaving no capacity to monitor the bigger picture or reassess whether a dive should proceed. This isn’t about blaming an individual, but understanding how systems, workload, and limited experience can overwhelm decision-making. The key lesson is that effective instructors don’t just rely on skill, but on preparation—setting clear plans, checks, and limits before the dive—to protect their ability to recognise problems when it matters most.</p><p>Original blog: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-obvious-thing-nobody-noticed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-obvious-thing-nobody-noticed</a></u></p><p>Links: Part 1: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-picture-went-dark" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-picture-went-dark</a></u></p><p>The Linnea Mills case: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/linnea-mills-death-hf-systems-lens" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/linnea-mills-death-hf-systems-lens</a></u></p><p>Tags: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a></u>|<a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/hf-psychology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/hf-psychology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sense-making, Decision-making, & Psychology</a></u></p>
June 13, 2026
<p>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.</p><p>Original blog: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-picture-went-dark" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-picture-went-dark</a></u></p><p>Links: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A 2026 study in </a><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Safety Science</a><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> by Woltjer and colleagues</a>: <u><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753526000822</a></u></p><p>Part two: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-obvious-thing-nobody-noticed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/the-obvious-thing-nobody-noticed</a></u></p><p>Tags: <u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a></u>|<a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/hf-psychology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><u><a href="https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/hf-psychology" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sense-making, Decision-making, & Psychology</a></u></p>
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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.
This podcast updates daily.
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