IMCA Advances Focus on Mental Fitness and Diver Wellbeing

Mental fitness is now increasingly, and rightly, recognised as a critical component of diver wellbeing and safe performance. We are taking practical steps to help the commercial diving industry address this issue through updated guidance, open industry dialogue, and occupational health research, reflecting our continuing commitment to help Members address emerging health and wellbeing challenges.

This work gained momentum after IMCA was challenged at the 2025 International Diving Seminar over its lack of guidance on mental fitness. In response, IMCA’s Diving Division Management Committee committed to making progress on this issue as part of its 2026 objectives, recognising that, while IMCA cannot resolve the issue alone, it can help reduce stigma and normalise the conversation.

A major milestone in the Committee’s work is the recently-published revision of IMCA D061: Guidance on Health, Fitness, and Medical Issues in Diving Operations.

Issued last month, the updated guidance recognises that fitness to dive extends beyond physical and medical fitness to include psychological wellbeing and mental fitness, and provides practical guidance for diving contractors, supervisors, and divers on recognising, reporting, and managing factors that may affect safe performance.

These factors include stress, fatigue, poor sleep, emotional wellbeing and other operational pressures associated with offshore work. The recommended practice also promotes supportive reporting cultures and practical arrangements for managing mental fitness within existing safety management systems.

Building on this work, IMCA hosted a dedicated Mental Fitness in Offshore Diving panel session at last month’s IMCA Global Summit.

The panellists were Stu Cowie (TechnipFMC), Shabnum Hanif (IntrospeXion), Tim Wakefield (Dead Calm Seas Marine Services), Dean Barden (Blu Subsea), and Emile Zaayman (Operatec), a geographically diverse group with experience spanning industry, operations, occupational health, medical support, and lived experience. The session was moderated by Abbie Coutts (TechnipFMC).

The discussion examined the relationship between mental fitness, safety, performance, decision-making, and team effectiveness offshore, and considered isolation, fatigue, shift work, family pressures, stigma, and job security, together with practical measures organisations can adopt to support psychological wellbeing and safer operations.

Panellists spoke candidly about their own experiences of struggling with mental fitness, making for a powerful and deeply personal session. The strong attendance reflected growing industry recognition that mental fitness is a genuine and safety-critical issue. Much remains to be done, but awareness and acceptance are building.

Recognising the importance of evidence-based guidance, IMCA has also provided funding to support the early publication of new academic research – Occupational health challenges in commercial diving: a qualitative study of psychological risk, training gaps, and organisational responsibilities.

Published in the Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal in September 2026, the qualitative study explored the experiences of 20 commercial divers, supervisors, and industry representatives, examining their experiences of psychological strain and trauma, their perceptions of the support available to them, and the relevance of training they had received.

It found that commercial diving is associated with “substantial and often unaddressed psychological burden”, compounded by cultural stigma, structural barriers to seeking support, and predominantly reactive support systems. Training provision was perceived as “outdated and insufficiently aligned with operational demands, with limited organisational investment in development”.

The study also suggested that industry‑wide efforts are needed to implement proactive mental‑health strategies and improve the alignment of training with operational realities.

Working with partners from across the commercial diving industry, we will continue to support and promote a holistic approach to ‘fitness to dive’ in which medical, physical, and mental fitness are recognised as essential elements of safe diving operations.

IMCA D061: Guidance on Health, Fitness, and Medical Issues in Diving Operations is available for IMCA Members to download in the Technical Library.