What You'll Take Away
A framework you can actually use.
The LEODSI/PETTEOT structure gives you a systematic way to analyse any incident, near-miss, or routine dive — not as a post-event exercise, but as a way of seeing the whole system before you enter the water.
Module 4 — Telling Stories, Building Cultures
From individual analysis to organisational learning
The final module addresses the hardest part of any safety improvement effort: making learning stick.
We look at how to communicate findings in ways that drive change rather than compliance, how to abstract learning from one event so it benefits the wider team, and how to build the kind of debrief culture where reflection is normal rather than exceptional. We cover After Action Reviews through a LEODSI lens, the role of psychological safety and Just Culture in sustaining open reporting, and the difference between single-, double-, and triple-loop learning.
We close by connecting everything back to the day-to-day: the pre-dive briefing, the post-dive debrief, the student who struggled, the dive that felt rougher than it should have. Because the goal of LEODSI isn't to produce better incident reports — it's to produce better divers, better instructors, and better teams.
The skills to facilitate real learning conversations.
You'll know how to run a Learning Team, how to create the psychological safety that makes honest disclosure possible, and how to turn what you find into hypotheses that can be tested and improved upon.
A different way of looking at routine diving.
Not just at what goes wrong, but at the adaptations, workarounds, and adjustments that normally keep things going right. That's where most of the real learning potential in diving lives.
Language that opens inquiry rather than closing it.
You'll leave with a vocabulary for talking about incidents, near-misses, and performance in ways that generate understanding rather than defensiveness — in your team, with your students, and in your organisation.
What we'll cover
Module 1 — Why Outcomes Emerge
The foundations of systems thinking in diving
We start by challenging the most common assumption in diving safety: that accidents are caused by individual error. The reality is more interesting — and far more useful.
Outcomes in diving emerge from multiple interacting factors, many of them separated in time and space from the moment things went wrong. In this module we explore the difference between simple, complicated, and complex systems, and why diving sits firmly in the complex category. We look at how Work as Imagined diverges from Work as Done, why that gap is normal rather than a sign of failure, and what it means for how we learn. We introduce organisational drift, and show how accumulations of background risk build quietly beneath the surface of routine operations.
By the end of Module 1, you'll understand why "human error" is a label that stops learning rather than starts it — and what to ask instead.
Module 2 — The LEODSI System
Seeing the whole system, not just the last act
This module introduces PETTEOT — the seven system elements that shape every outcome in diving: Person, Environment, Tasks, Tools and Technology, External Influences, Organisation, and Time. These aren't a checklist. They're a way of building a complete picture of the conditions that made an outcome possible, and of finding where the real leverage points for improvement are.
We work through each element in depth, with particular attention to Time — the most consistently overlooked factor in incident analysis. Using the WAI/WAN/WADD framework (Work as Imagined, Work as Normal, and Work as Actually Done), we show how temporal pressure cascades through a dive, compresses decision margins, and forces adaptations that make complete sense in the moment even when they look inexplicable in hindsight.
Practical exercises use real diving scenarios — recreational, technical, and instructor-led — to apply the framework and build analytical fluency with systems-level thinking.
Deeper Knowledge
Theory is brought to life during immersive simulations, reflective and targeted discussions and debriefs, and deep dives into specific HF topics as they relate to your diving and the diving of others in the class. Irrespective of your level of diver training and dive experience, you will gain knowledge and applied skills over these two days. Although considered a more 'advanced' course compared to HFiD: Essentials, Open Water divers have learned as much as instructor trainers with thousands of dives. The only pre-course requirements are curiosity and the want to be better than yesterday. And who doesn't want to be better than yesterday?
Critical Insights
There's no denying the facts. Those who have taken this immersive and reflective course have said they now see the world through fresh eyes - not just in their diving but in their 'normal' lives too. They have an emotional connection with the messiness of diving and work. And they've learned skills and been given tools that help them understand how to make their diving (and life) safer and more enjoyable. If you are an instructor or instructor trainer, the course will also give you more tools to develop your students and instructor candidates to deal with the 'messy world of diving.'
Module 3 — Getting to the Work as Done
How to have the conversations that actually generate learning
Learning doesn't happen automatically after an incident. It happens when the right people are in the room, psychological safety is present, and the right questions are being asked.
This module introduces the Learning Teams process — a structured, facilitated approach to understanding how work is really done and where the gaps between Work as Imagined and Work as Done create risk. We cover the seven phases of a Learning Team in full: from standing up the team and creating the conditions for honest disclosure, through the learning and discovery phases, to identifying barriers and defences and turning insights into hypotheses for improvement.
We look at the 4Ds (what is Difficult, Dumb, Dangerous, or Different about this work), the TEDS questioning approach, and how to hold a room in learning mode rather than rushing to solutions. We also address what happens after a Learning Team ends — because a lesson identified is not a lesson learned until the hypothesis has been tested and its effect measured.
Module 4 — Telling Stories. Building Cultures.
From individual analysis to organisational learning
The final module addresses the hardest part of any safety improvement effort: making learning stick.
We look at how to communicate findings in ways that drive change rather than compliance, how to abstract learning from one event so it benefits the wider team, and how to build the kind of debrief culture where reflection is normal rather than exceptional. We cover After Action Reviews through a LEODSI lens, the role of psychological safety and Just Culture in sustaining open reporting, and the difference between single-, double-, and triple-loop learning.
We close by connecting everything back to the day-to-day: the pre-dive briefing, the post-dive debrief, the student who struggled, the dive that felt rougher than it should have. Because the goal of LEODSI isn't to produce better incident reports — it's to produce better divers, better instructors, and better teams.
Deeper Knowledge
Theory is brought to life during immersive simulations, reflective and targeted discussions and debriefs, and deep dives into specific HF topics as they relate to your diving and the diving of others in the class. Irrespective of your level of diver training and dive experience, you will gain knowledge and applied skills over these two days. Although considered a more 'advanced' course compared to HFiD: Essentials, Open Water divers have learned as much as instructor trainers with thousands of dives. The only pre-course requirements are curiosity and the want to be better than yesterday. And who doesn't want to be better than yesterday?
Critical Insights
There's no denying the facts. Those who have taken this immersive and reflective course have said they now see the world through fresh eyes - not just in their diving but in their 'normal' lives too. They have an emotional connection with the messiness of diving and work. And they've learned skills and been given tools that help them understand how to make their diving (and life) safer and more enjoyable. If you are an instructor or instructor trainer, the course will also give you more tools to develop your students and instructor candidates to deal with the 'messy world of diving.'
What have others said about this course?
Steve Malone
I wish I'd done this course sooner. HFiD concepts are honestly what's missing from pretty much all diver training from open water up to highly advanced technical diving.
A focus on learning technical diving skills is obviously essential, but that's only half the picture and most people never benefit from understanding how the concepts The Human Diver teaches can elevate their diving to the highest level of competency.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Matt Randall
Avoiding adverse events in diving as a consequence of non-technical skills is not taught by most training agencies, although touched upon by some.
The Human Diver aims to address this situation through delivering proven methods and using evidence-based tools and techniques.
The bottom-line is that if you want to improve your diving-related goals, take the course.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Huw Mundy
The course was truly unlike any other HF training I've completed (and I come from an aviation background), it was far more immersive and taught by instructors who were not just there to teach a course, but were clearly passionate about the subject.
The training software created stressful scenarios that tested us and allowed us to see our weaknesses and areas for improvement.
Unlike most training courses, the two days flew by.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paul Krauss
I learned so many things about myself and working with others. It was so impactful that I registered my wife to take it. I realized I had become too comfortable with my scuba diving and was already starting to relax on post-dive buddy checks and dive planning. Creating a no-blame culture where it is healthy to show vulnerability and learn from our mistakes could very well save your life and those who dive with you.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Who is this course for?
LFEO: Applied Skills is designed for divers with operational and/or supervisory experience who want to develop deeper analytical and facilitation capability. It is particularly well-suited to:
Dive instructors and instructor trainers who want to improve how they debrief and how they design training that reflects the real complexity of diving.
Technical and rebreather divers who lead teams, plan expeditions, or manage risk in complex environments.
Dive leaders, club officers, and training managers who are responsible for safety culture and incident response.
Anyone who has read a diving incident report and felt that something important was missing from the analysis.
No prior knowledge of human factors or systems thinking is required. What you need is curiosity, a willingness to examine your own assumptions, and enough diving experience to bring to the examples and exercises.
Plus all these extra Bonuses!
Each attending student gets:
Course Reference Guide (80+ pages)
Session recordings available post-course for review and consolidation
Course reference papers and materials via The Human Diver members' area
Regular post-course learning prompts for up to three months after the class
Certificate of completion for continuing professional development
Lifetime access to course materials, including updates
HFiD: Applied Skills.
- Improved Awareness
- More Knowledge
- Critical Insights
- The opportunity to influence diving safety
- Days of an immersive experience you won't get from ANY of the training agencies.
- Plus loads of bonus materials.
100% Money Back Guarantee
We are so confident that you’ll benefit from this
ESSENTIALS OF HUMAN FACTORS IN DIVING Class
that if you’re not 100% happy with it we’ll refund your money.
All we ask is that you provide some robust feedback within a month of buying the ESSENTIALS OF HUMAN FACTORS IN DIVING Class as to why the learning didn't happen and how we can make the class better.
What do you have to lose?
When are the courses? Where do I sign up?
Plano, Texas
Only 3 Places Left!
February 14th, 2026 - February 15th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Plano, Texas
Instructor: Jenny Lord
Price: USD 550
Tulum, Mexico
6 Places Available
February 17th, 2026 - February 18th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Underworld Tulum
Instructor: Lanny Vogel
Price: USD 500
Orange County, CA
6 Places Available
February 21st, 2026 - February 22nd, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Orange County, CA
Instructor: Jenny Lord
Price: USD 550
Plano, Texas
6 Places Available
March 14th, 2026 - March 15th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Plano, Texas
Instructor: Jenny Lord
Price: USD 550
Seattle, Washington
6 Places Available
March 21st, 2026 - March 22nd, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Eight Diving, Seattle, WA
Instructor: Jenny Lord
Price: USD 600
Toronto, CA
6 spaces remaining (up to 12)
March 25th, 2026 - March 26th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Holiday Inn, Toronto Airport
Instructors: Gareth Lock
Price: CAD 995
Toronto, CA
6 spaces remaining (up to 12)
March 25th, 2026 - March 26th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Holiday Inn, Toronto Airport
Instructors: Gareth Lock
Price: CAD 995
HF in Diving Conference, Vis, Croatia
6 spaces remaining
1-4 June 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Vis, Croatia
Instructor: Gareth Lock
Price: GBP 250 (normally £300)
Online
7 spaces remaining
20-23 June, 2026.
14:00-18:00
Zoom
Instructor: Gareth Lock
Price: GBP 250pp (normally £300)
Online
12 spaces available
3rd-6th August, 2026
14:00 - 18:00
Zoom
Instructor: Gareth Lock
Price: £300
St Julians, Malta
12 spaces remaining
21st-22nd September 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Techwise, Malta
Instructor Gareth Lock
Price: £300pp
Divescapes. Edmonton, CA
6 spaces available
October 18th, 2026 - October 19th, 2026
08:30 - 17:30
Edmonton, CA
Instructor: Gareth Lock
Price: CAD 950
If there isn't a course that matches your time/location, please get in touch via the contact page and we will see what we can do. The mininum number to run the class is 6 - this allows interactive discussions - 12 is the maximum.
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