Over the past decade, diving fatalities have remained stubbornly consistent despite better equipment, more training, and growing participation, suggesting the problem isn’t just technical or individual error. Current safety approaches focus on equipment, skills, and counting deaths, but often ignore deeper issues like communication, teamwork, decision-making, and the wider system divers operate in. Research shows that most contributing factors in incidents come from these “upstream” conditions—such as training culture, social pressure, and organisational practices—rather than the diver’s final actions. A major gap is the lack of training and assessment in non-technical skills, which are critical for managing real-world situations under pressure. At the same time, diving lacks an effective system for learning from incidents, as divers are reluctant to report issues to organisations they believe won’t act on them. To improve safety, the industry needs a shared language around human performance, better systems for collecting and learning from data, and a culture that supports open, blame-free discussion—because without addressing these deeper factors, meaningful change is unlikely.

Original blog: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/why-does-nothing-change

Links: Rebreather fatality documentation from RF4.0: https://indepthmag.com/rebreather-forum-4-proceedings-are-available-for-free-download/

DCS study from DAN: https://journals.viamedica.pl/international_maritime_health/article/view/108038

If Only… documentary: https://www.thehumandiver.com/ifonly

Linnea Mills case: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/linnea-mills-death-hf-systems-lens

Divers Alert Network reporting: https://dan.org/research-reports/research-studies/diving-incident-reporting-system/

BSAC reporting: https://www.bsac.com/home/

DOSA reporting: https://duikongevallen.nl/

LEODSI and PETTEOT: https://www.thehumandiver.com/post/what-is-leodsi-petteot

Blogs about learning from incidents: https://www.thehumandiver.com/blog/category/learning-JC-incidents

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