The book "Under pressure - human factors in diving" - premiere!

An important and very interesting new book – “Under Pressure – Human Factors in Diving” – has gone on pre-order.

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When I first read this book, I thought LOOK! This is exactly what I have been missing for a good 10 years now. I knew immediately that I would read it many more times. Over the years working as an instructor, dive team member and leader, guide or manager in dive centers, I was aware that dive education was missing a key element.

Pre-order the book!

The knowledge and skills I’m talking about are among the core skills taught wherever good teamwork and high performance are key. Whether it’s rescue teams, doctors, special forces operators, or teams of developers. Especially when limited resources are involved. And this, after all, is especially true for divers. It’s not just the financial dimension, but also the time available.

A superb number of divers who can pursue ambitious diving plans have more time constraints than financial ones. Although, of course, both are important. If we have little time to carry out some diving project, e.g. visiting a wreck, exploring a cave, taking photographs, we have even less time to waste and make mistakes. If we add to this the financial aspect and, for example, the weather, there may be no room for corrections at all. That’s why it‘s so important for these dive teams to speak the same language, to have the same idea, of success and of what will happen in moments.

Improve your own safety and learn from the experiences of others

Safety and learning from the huge experience base of other divers came to me later. Understanding how to learn and reduce mistakes on important dives translates into understanding how and why we make mistakes. What can we do to make fewer of them? What can we do so that they are not critical and not only do they not lead to the loss of that one important dive for which we have been preparing for several weeks or months, but also to avoid much more serious consequences, such as loss of health or life? The book “Under Pressure – Human Factors in Diving” is about what we as humans bring and take away from the huge complex system that is diving.

The elements of this system are training agencies, divers, instructors, dive boat operators, equipment manufacturers, tourist agencies and many other elements that are not directly related to diving, such as divers’ families their professional and financial obligations, their concerns, their level of training, their health, etc. It’s all based on people and their relationship with the system.

“Under pressure – human factors in diving”.

This is the only textbook in the world that talks about how we can improve the quality and safety of our diving. It complements the technical and operational skills we learn in every diving course with non-technical skills related to our human factors. That’s why I decided that if I were to translate and publish any book on diving, this is the one that should come first. This is something that is not talked about in courses or written about in books. Therefore, as I decided to complete courses from the program Human Factors in Diving and to spread this knowledge in the diving community.

Cognitive errors is another very interesting and important text by Andrzej Górnicki on safety in diving and you will find it in the 19th issue of our the DIVERS24 quarterly magazine! The digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can buy in our online shop.