LEARNING FROM EMERGENT OUTCOMES
LFEO: Essentials. Online, self-paced learning. Released 1 August 2026 or before.
LFEO: Applied Skills. Practical application of theory. 1 June 2026 (HF in Diving Conference).
Explore and learn how it made sense for someone to do what they did.
Create real learning, not just 'compliance' fixes.
The key learning objective of these courses is to provide you with the skills to undertake an 'investigation' that is based on learning and not blaming. i.e., helping to understanding 'local rationality'. Even if there have been non-compliances present, they provide opportunities for learning. Investigations of complex operations, of which diving is just one, should use 'Human Error' as a starting point, not an end result.
"Undoubtedly having good technical skills makes you a good and safe diver and that is the goal of getting "certified" but this is not enough. How many times have you seen or read situations in diving that are far from "up to spec"? How many times you have done unsafe dives due to time, money or peer pressures? This is when Human Factors come in. The class allowed me to look in the mirror and learn the real reasons why I made decisions in diving that in retrospect were so wrong but I still made them anyway. It also showed the things other than buoyancy control or trim (for example) that are missing from diver training and why and how to get better at these "human" skills."
Giulio Helmsdorf, Technical Diver
"As a leader of a multi-agency public safety dive taskforce and team, I have to say this class hits on a lot of very important topics that help team leaders and members understand how to be great leaders and follower. All while creating an environment to fail safely in."
Tim Andro, PSD Team Leader
"Wise investment in time and money. Best safety course I attended. It was spot on. This course challenges our concepts of incidents and accidents, safety culture, the art of communication, effective briefing and debriefing etc. this is a must for all those involved in subsea operations, divers, supervisors, management, client rep. and technical diving authorities for the major oilfield operators."
Pierre Le Fevre, Saturation Diver
Adverse events are often repeated within teams and organisations because the real lessons are not identified or learned. This course changes that and brings another new paradigm into the sports diving domain. The tools are also applicable in other domains too!
The programme takes the form of a blended learning programme with online standalone and pre-learning to deliver core theory and then uses either Zoom or face-to-face sessions to examine events in a collaborative and interactive approach to generate understanding and curiosity in you.
This approach is similar to the Level 0: Essentials class which is pre-learning for the Level 2-1 and Level 2-2 face-to-face courses.
WHAT IS THE LFEO COURSE?
The Learning from Emergent Outcomes (LFEO) Course is something the diving industry really needs if safety and performance are to be improved. Currently, there is no structured or consistent way to look at adverse events in diving. None of the incident reporting systems looks at the role of Human Factors, Psychological Safety or Performance Influencing Conditions. Rather, they focus on proximal causes like medical issues, equipment configuration, non-compliance, 'human error', violations or 'recklessness'.
These courses are for those who are involved in supervisory or leadership positions within diving agencies, dive centres, universities or those who really want to learn more about how adverse events occur.
Places limited. Sign up for waiting list.
LFEO: Essentials. Released 1 August 2026.
LFEO: Applied Skills. 1 June 2026 at the HF in Diving Conference, Vis, Croatia.
WHAT TOPICS ARE COVERED?
The Learning From Unintended Outcomes course has four key learning objectives that are listed below. These are further broken down into objectives for the pre-learning element and face-to-face/webinar series.
- Learning Objective 1. Compare and contrast traditional approaches to incident investigation and explain the advantages of taking human factors and systems view which proactively identifies & corrects error producing conditions and situations.
- Learning Objective 2. Describe and implement the critical factors required to deliver the Learning From Unintended Outcome review process.
- Learning Objective 3. Demonstrate and execute the Learning From Unintended Outcome Review process, tools and techniques and apply them to the various types of investigations.
- Learning Objective 4. Proactively manage (or influence) the changes needed for leadership and organisational behaviours to implement the revised incident management process.
THD Courses
Contact Menu
© 2026 The Human Diver
ONLINE
The next LEARNING FROM UNINTENDED OUTCOMES online course will be running in May 2023, dates TBC but will run 17:00 GMT each day. Each online session will last 3.5 hours and finish at 20:30 GMT.
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Next Class Dates/Times
The next 10-week webinar-based classes will start on 15 February 2022 starting 19:30 AEDT (time zone converter below). This is based around Australia/Far East attendees and taught by Mike Mason.
15 Feb - Introduction to HF, Non-Technical Skills and Human Error in Diving and Case Study introduction.
22 Feb - Psychological Safety and Just Culture
1 Mar - Situational Awareness
8 Mar - Decision Making
15 Mar - Communications
22 Mar - Leadership & Followership in Diving
29 Mar - Teamwork
5 Apr - Performance Shaping Factors (Stress & Fatigue)
12 Apr - Incident Reporting & Checklists
19 Apr - Goals and Accountability
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ONLINE
The next LEARNING FROM UNINTENDED OUTCOMES Online course will run from 13:00-17:00 British Summer Time (BST) on 3, 10, 20, 22 and 25 September 2023.
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WHAT YOU'LL GET FROM THE COURSE...
Face-to-Face Interaction/
Live Interactive Webinars
This course is available in two forms. Both involve some pre-learning to ensure the core theory is understood before the interactive sessions occur.
The two-day face-to-face workshop provides practical exercises, case studies and developing an understanding of how an event occurred by examining local rationality and using relationship-based models to help create understanding.
The 5 x 3.5 hr webinar session content is the same as the workshop but arranged over 5 sessions which allow the learning to be consolidated and not get Zoom-frazzled.
Applied Learning
Both workshops will give you plenty of practical skills and knowledge to develop an understanding of how an adverse event could have developed.
It is not about root causes (they don't exist!) but rather the emergence of factors and the presence of error-producing conditions, and how they interact.
You will be given the basic skills to make sense of an adverse event using a learning perspective, not a blaming one, working to understand what 'normal' looks like.
You won't be given a silver bullet to solve problems, but you will be given insight into how to understand local rationality to help prevent future adverse events.
Consolidated Learning
There is no way you can learn and remember everything during these two days or 5 x 3.5 hrs sessions. Therefore, each of the online sessions will be recorded and made available to the course participants. (Private information will be removed from the recordings).
After the class, there will also be regular emails every two weeks out to three months reminding you of some of the aspects of the class.
Course materials and reference papers will be made available in the back end of The Human Diver website.
BONUSES
As a student of this class, you will be given access to additional materials like presentations and briefing notes only available to those who complete a face-to-face class with The Human Diver. The goal being to grown your knowledge, develop your skills and help you take action.
YOUR TUTOR
GARETH LOCK, MSC, MCIEHF
Gareth founded The Human Diver in January 2016 when he recognised that there was a gap in knowledge within the diving community when it came to human factors, non-technical skills and the need for a Just Culture. You can see a detailed background here
He has led two reviews into military diving fatalities, one for UK MOD and one overseas with a close military ally, along with examining numerous case studies to help understand the key question 'how did it make sense'. In the global safety domain, he is recognised as someone at the leading edge of ideas of how to improve operational safety by understanding 'Work as Done' as it compares to 'Work as Imagined'.
He is currently undertaking an MSc in HF and System Safety at Lund University looking at 'Second Stories' and whether they contribute to learning.
MIKE MASON
Mike spent 20 years in the Royal Air Force, most of it flying on frontline squadrons. He now works as a flying instructor in the Royal Australian Air Force teaching young pilots to fly fighters. As well as being an accomplished instructor, he is an experienced flying supervisor and holder of a commercial pilot’s licence.
He has been an active diver since 2015 and has around 300 dives in his logbook from as far north as Iceland and as far south as New Zealand. He works part-time as a Dive Master and is also an active CCR diver. Wrecks interest him the most but he gets just as much satisfaction taking groups to see Grey Nurse Sharks at his local dive sites.
Due to his career in military aviation, Mike has lived and breathed Human Factors for his entire professional life. As he became involved with diving expeditions and supervision, he realised how much the diving world could learn from aviation. He is a great believer in Human Factors and how an awareness of them can make time spent underwater safer and more rewarding.
WHAT OUR STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY
"This class has been a game changer for myself as it has given me the HF tools and knowledge as to how I plan to understand, interact and communicate with my dive community, dive team, work, family and even strangers."
Josh Maxwell
"In my case, It's made me dive again. I ended up very disappointed professionally with this industry, certain aspects and certain people. So much so that I even lost the desire to go in the water.
This last month, I have already done seventeen dives. I have also been motivated and encouraged by the fact that there are many people (in this case my fellow seminarians) who want a breath of fresh air in this world and to improve and change certain aspects."
Jamie Sanchez
FAQ'S
WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES FROM THE COURSE?
- Outcome 1. Oversee and manage the investigation process in line with your organisation’s or team’s guidelines regarding the severity of the event.
- Outcome 2. Lead an investigation, proactively identify latent conditions, organisational weaknesses and develop smart corrective actions.
- Outcome 3. Create an environment where people can identify error likely situations and potential incidents and are free to speak up without retribution.
- Outcome 4. Lead and influence the change needed to create learning within the team or organisation to support outcomes 1-3.
WHAT IS THE INVESTMENT?
It is just £400 (approx $500) - you have lifetime access to these materials as well as the alumni community.
WHAT DO I NEED TO COMPLETE THE CLASS?
The only thing you need is a web browser (PC or Mac) and an internet connection. As there will be interaction using web browsers and Zoom, using a mobile device on its own won't work for the interactive elements.
There are no prerequisites in terms of diving certification. Level 0: Essentials of Human Factors in Diving, is required for both the Level 3.0 online and 3.1 & 3.2 face-to-face courses.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO COMPLETE?
The course takes place over 16 hours of direct student contact and 4 hours of pre-learning and mid-course learning/consolidation via online self-study. Direct contact is either 2 x full days in a physical classroom, or 5 x 3.5-hour sessions (which includes breaks).
DO I GET A CERTIFICATE OR C-CARD?
You do get a certificate from The Human Diver which you can use for continuing professional development as long as you complete each of the homework assignments.
The course is not currently underwritten by any of the diver training agencies so you won't get a bit of plastic. Sorry! However, we are trying to do our bit regarding single use plastic.
ARE SESSIONS RECORDED?
Yes, all of the sessions are recorded which means you can refer back to them or if you are busy and can't make a session, then you can catch up later, via your laptop/desktop or via the mobile app available for iOS and Android.
HOW LONG DO I GET ACCESS?
You have lifetime access, and you’ll receive an update when we update course reference materials.
"Someone once asked me what the difference between Knowledge and wisdom is; Knowledge is gained from one's own experience, Wisdom is obtained from others experience. I feel that this class truly embodies this quote."
Jacqueline Patek
OW Diver and OR Nurse
AWARD WINNING PROGRAMME
We were so delighted that the Online Micro Class was awarded The Innovation Award at the 2018 TekDiveUSA Technical Diving Conference.
“For innovation and/or product design that has increased the safety and extended the field of technical diving.”
100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
We are so confident that you’ll benefit from this 10-Week Webinar Programme 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 completing the programme as to why the learning didn't happen and how we can make the class better. What do you have to lose?