In 2018 he played a leading role in the Tham Luang cave rescue and was awarded the George Medal in the Civilian Gallantry List.

[9] Norwegian authorities asked him to assist to recover the bodies of two Finnish divers from Jordbrugrotta in 2014, but after diving down to the site he and his colleagues deemed the operation too risky.

[5][11][12] After locating and participating in the rescue of the missing team and its coach, Stanton said that he and the other cave divers involved were not heroes, saying, "We’re just using a very unique skill set, which we normally use for our own interest and sometimes we’re able to use that to give something back to the community.

He developed two closed-circuit rebreather units; this novel technology has been "instrumental in his achieving cave diving depth records around the world.

[24] Stanton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours, "For services to Local Government".

[5][25] In November 2018, Stanton and five other members of the British cave rescue team were given the 2018 Pride of Britain Award for "Outstanding Bravery" for the Tham Luang incident.

[26] On 28 December 2018 it was announced that Stanton and Volanthen would receive the George Medal in the 2019 New Year Honours for their roles at Tham Luang.