MEET THE TEAM
Instructors from around the globe who can deliver the Human Diver programmes.
If you are considering an investment in training around diving as a sport, pastime or profession – you should be considering human factors as part of that investment.
The Human Diver has a team of qualified professional instructors, all experienced divers, who can deliver our courses. They have undertaken hours of human factors training, in person, online and through group work to become accredited. More are due to train as instructors this year and beyond.
Our mission is to be able to offer this kind of holistic training globally to anyone who wants to further their knowledge and minimise risks around diving – whatever their level of technical diving ability or experience.
Heading the team is Gareth Lock.
THE FOUNDER
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 and non-technical skills. He decided to do something about it and has made waves ever since.
Base:
South West of England, United Kingdom.
Background:
Spent 25 years in the Royal Air Force as a flight instructor, navigator on C-130 Hercules, systems engineer and a requirements manager. Left the RAF in 2015 and started work in high-risk industries teaching Human Factors and Crew Resource Management (CRM).
Diving Experience:
GUE Tech 2 certified and TDI JJ-CCR Mod 1 with around 800 dives. Looking forward to getting cave certified too.
Human Factors Commitment:
Using his own course/s developed and based on his lived diving experience, has to date taught more than 350 divers face-to-face, presented at nearly 20 conferences around the world and published his first book 'Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors' in 2019 which has sold 1000s of copies globally already.
And Finally:
He loves his underwater photography and has been published in numerous magazines. If you want to find out how to work with Gareth directly or how to book him as a speaker click here
Guy Shockey, MA, BA
Guy is one of the first graduates from the Human Diver’s HF instructors’ academy (whatever words you want to use). A man who loves extreme sports, he is also committed to improving outcomes by understanding how human factors impact on those sports including diving. Guy recognized the value of Human Factors training in the diving world immediately because of his past careers, and has been an advocate of The Human Diver from the beginning.
Base:
Vancouver Island, Canada
Background:
He’s an ex-military officer and former professional guide with a graduate degree in political science. He is an entrepreneur including building up a successful manufacturing business with wholesale and retail components. He is also a nationally accredited Skydiving coach and instructor.
Diving Experience:
He first learned to dive in 1982 in the mountain lakes of Alberta, Canada and has been involved with Global Underwater Explorers for the past 12 years. He is currently a full time Instructor Evaluator for GUE and travels the globe and teaching technical diving (OC and CCR) for GUE. He is also very active working with GUE’s instructor candidates and incorporates Human Factors training in all his classes.
Human Factors Commitment:
Guy was one of the first cohort of trainers, completing his training in 2019. He now runs courses in human factors in Canada and the US. He was one of the first instructors to require his technical diving students to take the Human Factors online micro-class as preparation for technical and instructor dive training.
And Finally:
He loves to share his passion for exploration in the mountains or under the sea.
EMAIL GUY
Helene Pellerin, MD, FRCPC
Helene is passionate about understanding human performance and how it can be improved to decrease error and increase safety in diving. Her goal is to promote the development of a ‘Just Culture’ by sharing this knowledge to divers of all levels.
Base:
Quebec City, Canada.
Background:
She is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Universite Laval in Quebec City, and an instructor at the simulation centre of the Faculty of Medicine of Universite Laval, where she teaches Crisis Resources Management and Teamwork.
Diving Experience:
Helene is a GUE TEC 1 diver, a PADI Divemaster and an Emergency First Response (EFR) instructor with more than 300 dives in the past five years. She is mostly a cold-water diver although she enjoys warm water very much as well. She enjoys ocean dives and wreck dives.
Human Factors Commitment:
Helene was part of the first cohort of graduates from the Human Diver’s HF instructors’ academy. Becoming an instructor in human factors was a natural step for her given her background in Crisis Resources Management & Teamwork in healthcare. The Human Diver programme was a fantastic opportunity to move her interest in human factors from her professional life to diving.
And Finally:
Helene loves teaching and she is always keen on sharing her interests on the application of non-technical skills and human factors in diving and beyond!
EMAIL HELENEBart Den Ouden, CPP PCI cATO™
Bart, who has been a professional diver for almost 20 years, strongly believes that training is paid for but certification is earned. He has always felt “something” was missing in most of the training programmes he undertaken or taught. Human Factors has filled that gap for him.
Base:
The Netherlands.
Background:
Bart is a private security professional of 20 years, focusing on providing safety and security for many clients, ranging from retailers to big public events. Since 2009 he is also one of the examiners for the security industry’s exam board in The Netherlands.
Diving Experience:
He became a professional diver in 2001 and five years later, an EFR Instructor Trainer, a TDI Instructor Trainer a year after that and a PADI Course Director in 2008. He also offers Workplace Accredited Training and is a Diver Medical Technician. He is an Open and Closed Circuit Advanced Trimix Instructor Trainer with around 3,000 dives over 20 years of diving.
Human Factors Commitment:
Bart was an early adopter and supporter of the Human Factors in Diving course and went on to offer himself as an instructor with The Human Diver. He wanted to be at the forefront of this of holistic teaching in diving.
And Finally:
Bart also works as a safety diver for the film industry and has worked on projects like “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”.
EMAIL BART
Jenny Lord
Jenny has always had a love of the outdoors and extreme sports. When she first heard about The Human Diver and considering human factors in diving, she embraced it. She knew it was critical to creating a positive culture in diving. Her interest in team development started with outdoor education, using it as a tool to help people learn more about communication, planning and teamwork.
Base:
Egypt
Background:
Prior to diving, she worked in outdoor education for ten years teaching rock climbing, white water kayaking, canoeing, sailing, skiing, caving and cycling, amongst other sports.
Diving Experience:
Jenny is a full-time technical diving instructor. Since 2009 she has lived in Dahab, Egypt teaching SCUBA diving. She is a technical instructor trainer for TDI, advanced Trimix instructor, advanced mixed gas CCR diver and helitrox CCR instructor.
Human Factors Commitment:
Now accredited as an instructor in human factors with The Human Diver, Jenny has already started delivering courses on the subject as well as integrating awareness of human factors into the technical courses she delivers.
And Finally:
Jenny has supported a number of deep dives as part of H2O divers’ dive team and works as a safety diver in the stunt industry.
EMAIL JENNYDarryl Owen
Base:
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Background:
Darryl served in the British Army and has been an expat for the last 30 years in a variety of senior management roles in the software and management consultancy sectors. He has been building high performance teams in the software and services industries for much of that time and has gained extensive change management experience across diverse industry sectors.
Diving Experience:
He is a technical instructor for Unified Team Diving (UTD) as well as an instructor trainer for RAID and owns several dive centres in the UAE and Oman together with his wife, Marine who is also an Instructor Trainer for UTD and an Instructor Examiner for RAID. Together they share a passion for anything submerged with rust on it and have founded an academy in the UAE to promote education for divers and dive professionals that includes marine science and conservation, marine archaeology, photography and exploration. He has accumulated more than 3,500 dives in locations all over the world.
Human Factors Commitment:
Darryl saw the value of human factors training as soon as it became available. He realised it added to his considerable expertise and it aligned with his previous military and business career. For him, it was entirely logical for him to become a Human Diver accredited instructor.
And Finally:
He dives both open circuit and CCR and is passionate about wreck exploration. He also has five children who, combined with running three dive operations, provide an endless source of human factor scenarios!
EMAIL DARRYL
Beatrice Rivoira
Base:
Italy - Switzerland
Background:
Beatrice is an Italian vocational diver with a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography. Her main interests in these fields are related to extreme environments like the poles, deep-sea habitats or caves.
Diving Experience:
Beatrice started diving in 2001 and soon realised that, from that moment, it would have been an important part of her life. She now works around the world as a CCR & OC instructor participating in biological/archaeological underwater projects and underwater maintenance works.
Human Factors Commitment:
As soon as Beatrice discovered a little more about Human Factors and their role in diving, her view changed completely. She can't "unsee" now and this had a strong influence on both her diving and teaching methods. Integrating these concepts in her diving classes became natural and she hopes that more and more divers will soon understand the great value of these topics.
And Finally:
Since 2013, she has been part of “Zero Emissions” with which she continues to teach and educate. She also co-authored the book “Biodiving”, translated and contributed to several diving texts and articles.
She can deliver the classes in Italian and English and she is now working on her French too... but with no rush!
Mike Mason
Base:
New South Wales, Australia
Background:
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.
Diving Experience:
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.
Human Factors Commitment:
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.
And Finally:
Diving is often a family past-time and Mike’s family is no exception. His partner and step-daughter have also taken a keen interest in the sport and they regularly dive together.
EMAIL MIKE
Chris Tibble
Base:
London, United Kingdom
Background:
Chris works in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), currently for a food manufacturer where he is responsible for shopper insight and understanding consumer trends & insights
Diving Experience:
Chris is a TDI Stage Cave diver and IANTD Advanced Recreational Trimix diver, having learnt to dive in the UK, and then travelled as far as Thailand and Mexico to explore diving.
Human Factors Commitment:
Chris had an early interest in Human Factors when he met Gareth at a BBQ and spoke extensively about it. When the opportunity to become a Human Factors instructor came up he leapt at the chance. Chris is also interested in translating what he’s learning from Human Factors in Diving to the corporate environment.
And Finally:
Chris’s main passion is Cave diving, which he does as often as he can in Mexico. His favourite cave is Jailhouse, though he’s always up for auditioning new ones for the title!
EMAIL CHRISAndrzej Gornicki
Base:
Poland - Croatia
Background:
Andrzej is a Polish dive industry consultant with a Master’s Degree in Social and Safety Psychology. His main interests in these fields are related to human performance in extreme environments, and high-performance team building. Team management, leadership and learning from daily operations in dynamic environments. Andrzej holds a post-graduate diploma in Underwater Archaeology and has gained dive safety officer experience in scientific projects.
Diving Experience:
Andrzej started diving in 2003 and soon realized that, from that moment, it became an important part of his life. He worked as a CCR & OC instructor and dive centre manager in countries like Poland, Norway, Egypt and Croatia. He participated in archaeological underwater projects, underwater maintenance/recovery works, and deep-water technical diving projects.
Human Factors Commitment:
Andrzej discovered Human Factors in Diving in 2018 after participating in Essentials of Human Factors in Diving. He quickly understood that knowledge and idea of Human Factors of Diving covers a lot of what he was missing in dive training. It filled the empty void of Non-Technical skills in diving. Having a psychology background he understood the importance of bringing Human Factors and Non-Technical skills to his team and diving community. Andrzej wrote several articles based on knowledge he gained from Essentials, Face to Face class, 10-Week webinar, and his own research. He also translated several blogs to Polish. Andrzej presented Human Factor concepts in several dive centres and conferences in Poland including Baltictech 2022. In 202,1 he was one of the speakers at Human Factors in Diving Conference.
And Finally:
In 2022, he translated and published "Pod Ciśnieniem” - Polish edition of Gareth’s Look book - „Under Pressure”. In 2023, Andrzej became Human Factors In Diving Instructor. He can deliver training in Polish and English. He also continues to promote Human Factors in Diving in Poland.
EMAIL ANDRZEJ
Pedro Paulo 'PP' Cunha
Base
São Paulo, Brazil / Zurich, Switzerland
Background
Pedro graduated in Naval Engineering and holds two MBAs in Business Management and Banking. He worked for 25 years as an IT executive in the financial industry as a CIO/CTO and since 2017 has moved to the consulting business, helping banks and other companies develop technologies, processes, and teams to run mission-critical IT operations.
Diving Experience
Pedro started diving in 1983 and became an instructor in 1986. He is an a GUE Tech 1, IANTD CCR diver, and an SDI/TDI and NAUI technical diving instructor. He has a passion for complex, technical environments such as deep wrecks and caves but also dives a lot in clam, warm waters. He is also a published underwater photographer and author.
Human Factors Commitment:
PP started learning about human factors and non-technical skills in diving just before the pandemic, becoming fascinated with the subject and the impact it could have in the industry. In the following years he dived into the literature and went through all the classes offered by The Human Diver, becoming an instructor in 2023. Since then, he has delivered seminars and classes in Brazil and is translating all the THD materials to Portuguese. He has also included human factors in all his recreational and technical diving classes.
And Finally:
Understanding the human factors impact on the performance of teams and how to apply this knowledge in high-risk industries has become a passion for Pedro, who is also loves teaching and sharing knowledge and experiences. His goal is to help teams and the diving industry to evolve by actively implementing human factors practices in their day-to-day operations and then transfer this approach to other industries in his professional area, such as Information Technology. He can deliver training in Portuguese and English.
Windal Adams
Base
Plano, Texas
Background
He has worked in retail for over 25 years. He started off as a stock person for a large department store. He then started working in the diving industry for a couple of Dallas area dive stores and one in West Palm Beach Florida. He then started as a department manager for a big box retailer. He then opened his own specialty cleaning company and runs the day to day operations.
Diving Experience
He took the Open Water Diver class for his PE class at college in 1989. He became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor in 1992 and a PADI Master Instructor in 1998. He is also a PADI Emergency First Response Instructor and a DAN Instructor. In 2021, he became a SDI / TDI Course Director and Instructor Trainer.
Human Factors Commitment:
He first came across The Human Diver through social media. He was impressed with the simplicity of the ideas and how interconnected they are.
And Finally:
Windal loves to dive in Cozumel, Mexico with his family.
