Gareth Lock

Gareth Lock is the inspirational founder of The Human Diver. On leaving his 25-year career in the RAF he was already an experienced diver having started to learn the sport in 1999. His very first dive took place in Greece while on holiday. However, it was while on work trips to Cape Town and San Diego that he knew diving would become an important part of his life.

As he became more experienced in diving, he realised that it was all about teamwork and there’s one thing the military do very well – working as a team. They know through extensive training and experience in the theatre of war that little mistakes around behaviour, poor decisions, lack of situational awareness and complacency costs lives.

Sadly, Gareth found that often in diving that holistic ethos was lacking. Teams were not always led well, did not get on with each other and members often operated in separate silos without any consideration for those also sharing that diving experience. Dysfunctional teams were often left to cope by instructors who had become complacent and disconnected. Much training focused on technical expertise – which is critically important – yet didn’t touch on the equal importance of human behaviour and team development.

Gareth decided to do something about it and has set himself a mission of introducing human factors training into the diving profession globally. It’s not always easy. There has been resistance to his systems-based approach. However, he’s remained committed and has travelled the world sharing his story.