Mike Mason Blog

In a perfect world, there would be no distractions, plenty of time and our equipment would always work. In reality, this is not the case. Whenever we go diving, there will always be things competing for our attention and prioritisation in a limited time window. Pre-dive checks are just one of those things. Consider, on the boats you dive from, how you can make it easier to do checks and indeed, what else you can do to make the diving safer for everyone.

In a perfect world, there would be no distractions, plenty of time and our equipment would always work. In reality, this is not the case. Whenever we go diving, there will always be things competing for our attention and prioritisation in a limited time window. Pre-dive checks are just one of those things. Consider, on the boats you dive from, how you can make it easier to do checks and indeed, what else you can do to make the diving safer for everyone.

Checklists work by helping to compensate for the limitations of our brains. We forget things, we get distracted. Using a checklist helps to keep you on the right path and gives you prompts such that you don’t necessarily have to remember to do things - you just have to remember how to do things. Pilots and surgeons use well-designed checklists all the time despite being experts in what they do.