Psychological Safety in Diving

Psychological safety is what allows divers to ask questions, admit uncertainty, and call a dive without hesitation. It turns quiet doubts into spoken concerns while there is still time to fix them. This page explains what psychological safety means in diving and how to build it on every dive, from local quarries to technical expeditions.

At a Glance

• Goal: Make it safe to speak up before, during, and after dives
• Applies to: Every diver, buddy pair, instructor, and dive leader
• Focus: Communication, Just Culture, and the Thumb Rule
• Outcome: Fewer silent concerns and more honest debriefs

Psychological safety is not about being soft or avoiding hard conversations. It is about creating an environment where divers tell the truth about what they see, feel, and worry about, so the team can act before a small issue becomes an incident. It is a core part of human factors in diving and sits alongside skills like situational awareness and sound decision making.

What Is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety is the shared belief that it is acceptable to ask questions, raise concerns, and admit mistakes without being mocked, ignored, or punished. In a psychologically safe team, divers are willing to say:

• "I am not comfortable with this current."
• "I do not understand the plan yet."
• "I think we should call this dive."

Those statements are not signs of weakness. They are signals that the team has access to real information instead of guesses. In aviation, medicine, firefighting, and now diving, psychological safety is a foundation of safe performance in complex environments.

Psychological Safety and Just Culture

Psychological safety works best when it is matched with Just Culture. Just Culture means:

• Mistakes and near misses are talked about so the team can learn.
• Careless or reckless choices are addressed, not ignored.
• The goal is understanding and improvement, not automatic blame.

A team without psychological safety hides problems. A team without Just Culture never corrects harmful behavior. High performing dive teams need both.

The Thumb Rule: Calling the Dive

Technical and cave divers often talk about the "thumb rule" or "any diver, any time" rule. Any diver can end any dive, at any time, for any reason. No argument, no punishment, no sarcasm on the boat later.

In reality, this rule is harder to live by than to repeat. Money, travel, pride, schedules, and peer pressure all push in the opposite direction. Instructors and leaders are especially vulnerable when they feel they must finish a class or meet a promise.

Psychologically safe teams treat the thumb rule as real. They support the diver who calls the dive and treat that decision as useful information, not as a problem. For more on this mindset, see Calling the Dive.

How Psychological Safety Shows Up on Real Dives

Psychological safety is not a slogan. It shows up in very ordinary moments:

• A new diver on a busy boat feels comfortable asking the captain to repeat part of the briefing instead of pretending to understand.
• A buddy speaks up about feeling cold and low on energy before the group turns into stronger current.
• An instructor notices that a pre dive check feels rushed and disjointed after a string of small gear issues and decides to thumb the dive, then explains why.
• A diver who surfaces with low gas is able to talk honestly about what happened in the debrief without being shamed, so the whole team learns from it.

When psychological safety is missing, the same dives look different. Questions stay silent. Concerns are minimized. Divers feel like passengers instead of part of the team. The risk does not go away. It just becomes invisible until it appears as a "sudden" problem.

Common Barriers to Speaking Up

Many divers do not speak up even when they feel uneasy. Some typical reasons include:

• Fear of looking inexperienced: They worry that questions will mark them as "the weak diver" on the boat.
• Fear of disrupting the plan: They know others paid for the trip and do not want to be seen as the reason a dive changes.
• Authority pressure: They assume the guide, instructor, or most experienced diver must be right.
• Group dynamics: Being the only outsider in a tight group makes it harder to challenge decisions.

Psychological safety does not erase these pressures. It counteracts them by making clear, in words and in actions, that honest input is expected and valued.

Practical Ways to Build Psychological Safety

You do not need a formal leadership title to support psychological safety. Every diver can contribute. The steps below work on day boats, at local quarries, and in formal classes.

Before the Dive: Briefs That Invite Questions

• Make room for questions: At the end of the brief, ask "What are we worried about on this dive?" and leave real time for answers.
• State the thumb rule explicitly: Remind the team that anyone can call the dive at any time and that the discussion happens later, not underwater.
• Share relevant concerns: If you are tired, cold, or unfamiliar with the site, say so. That honesty gives others permission to do the same.

During the Dive: Support Signals and Concerns

• Respond calmly to issues: If a diver signals a problem, treat it as useful information, not an inconvenience.
• Check in proactively: Use regular gas checks, eye contact, and simple hand signals to confirm that the team is still aligned.
• Back up the diver who calls it: If someone thumbs the dive, support the decision in the moment and save analysis for the surface.

After the Dive: Debriefs Without Shame

• Shift from blame to curiosity: Replace "Who messed up?" with "How did this make sense at the time?"
• Share your own mistakes: Talk honestly about what you missed, not only about what you did well.
• Ask for feedback: Invite your buddy to tell you what you could improve and listen without defensiveness.
• Challenge drift, not people: If you see habits sliding, focus on the behavior and the risk, not on attacking character.

Your Role in a Just and Psychologically Safe Team

Building psychological safety is not the job of one instructor or one captain. It grows from many small choices repeated over time.

• Support those who speak up: Thank divers who raise concerns, especially newer ones.
• Shut down toxic behavior: Do not let ridicule or casual mockery of questions pass without comment.
• Be direct when it matters: You can be clear and firm about unsafe behavior without humiliating people.
• Keep learning visible: When the team adjusts a plan based on new information, say so. It shows that speaking up has real effect.

Psychological safety and Just Culture are not about avoiding consequences. They are about matching consequences to behavior, not outcomes alone, and about creating space for honest information so the team can act early instead of reacting late.

Learning More from The Human Diver (Gareth Lock)

Most of what diving knows today about psychological safety, Just Culture, and human factors comes into the community through the work of Gareth Lock and The Human Diver. His articles and courses take ideas from aviation, firefighting, and human performance research and make them usable for ordinary divers.