Diver and human factors expert, Gareth Lock, has announced the release of a new course from The Human Diver, ‘Learning from Unintended Outcomes’ which focuses on learning, not blaming, when it comes to incidents, accidents and near-misses in the diving domain.
The first ever of its kind, this course focuses on location rationality and context, ultimately determining ‘how it made sense for those involved to do that they did’. Despite what some might think, no diver plans to end up with an injury, death, or damaged materiel during a dive, and therefore understanding more than what just happened in the previous few hours or day is key to ensuring continued safety in diving.
Most incident investigations focus on non-compliance, rule-breaking and proximal causes, and yet modern safety research shows that there are always multiple, latent factors which precede these adverse events and that by understanding these conditions, we are more likely to reduce the likelihood of a future adverse event. We need to look at what ‘normal’ looks like, not just the non-compliant aspects of the dive. Accidents happen as deviations from ‘normal’, not just deviations from rules. Adverse events occur when the capacity to remain safe has been exceeded and then apply the learning to future diving operations.
The course is run in either a virtual format or face-to-face and provides 3 hours of pre-learning to ensure the core concepts are known before 16+ hours of engaging sessions bring the theory to life with case studies and critical thinking and reflection. The virtual class runs over 5 days of 3.5 hr sessions and the face-to-face class is run over two 8-hr days. The first virtual course is scheduled to start on May 16th 2022, 17:00-20:30 UK with the first face-to-face happening 21-22 May in Cirencester, UK. Both courses are limited to 6 people attending.
The course is written for those in supervisory positions or positions of leadership in diving agencies or training organisations, in dive centres, in scientific diving establishments, on expedition/projects, or those who want to take their learning further. The cost is extremely competitive given the depth of knowledge provided and the ability to transfer this knowledge to the non-diving space.
Gareth has written a book ‘Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors’ which is considered THE textbook when it comes to applying human factors in diving and comes highly recommended. Working with Ashley Bugge and her late husband’s dive team, he also went to Hawaii in November 2019 to film a documentary about Brian’s accident which was called ‘If Only…’ and was released in May 2020. In September 2021, he organised and ran the first ever Human Factors in Diving Conference which had nearly 30 speakers and delivered high-quality materials over two-days via a virtual platform. His is currently undertaking a MSc in Human Factors and System Safety at Lund University, with a view to developing greater knowledge of how safety and performance can be improved in diving.
Gareth lives with his family in Malmesbury, Wiltshire and travels the world sharing his knowledge of how human behaviour can affect diving, facilitating ‘counter-errorism in diving’. Through his company, The Human Diver, Gareth trains high performance teams and speaks at conferences focused on diving, extreme sports and supporting teams in high-risk sectors.
