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

We explore how capable, motivated divers can gradually push beyond safe limits when their environment rewards risk-taking and treats near misses as successes. Using the story of a young technical diver who died after entering a strong current, alongside examples from aviation, we examine how normalisation of deviance, practical drift, peer pressure and the need for recognition can erode safety margins over time. The episode asks whether we are recognising skill or simply rewarding luck, and looks at the responsibility of instructors, dive centres and teammates to create an environment where people can challenge decisions and stop a dive without fear of criticism. In an activity where there is no higher authority to stop a diver from making a poor decision, the people around us may be the last line of defence. The challenge is to tell these stories not as tales of foolish people making bad decisions, but as opportunities to understand how reasonable decisions can lead to terrible outcomes—and to recognise the early warning signs in our own thinking before it is too late.

Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/cashing-cheques

Links: Blog about Normalisation of Deviance: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/normalisation-of-deviance-not-about-rule-breaking

Lucky and good are different things: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/were-you-lucky-or-were-you-good-2

Jon Kieran’s article about training Doc Deep: https://indepthmag.com/i-trained-doc-deep/

The factors that allowed Holland’s fatality: https://convergentperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Darker_Shades_of_Blue.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoqA5a510blcq1IOFitrQHksCF-mGJHc_5W7wcAmC1fl8A-MN7B5

Discussion about the term “second victim”: https://www.medstarhealth.org/-/media/project/mho/medstar/institute-for-quality-and-safety/about-miqs/abandon-term-second-victim-2019_web.pdf

Calling a dive: https://www.tdisdi.com/sdi-diver-news/a-secret-tip-for-safer-diving/

Sidney Dekker’s checklist: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/restorative-just-culture

References/Resources: Dillon and Tinsley. Near-miss events, risk messages, and decision making. & How Near-Miss Events Amplify or Attenuate Risky Decision Making

Fit to Dive - Dealing with trauma after a diving accident

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