EP 19 “Near Misses: Were You Good or Were You Lucky?” with Gareth Lock.

In this insightful interview, human factors expert Gareth Lock discusses the critical aspects of how we should understand sense-making and decision making especially in ambiguous and high-consequence environments. The research shows that if performers have 'successful' outcome following a near-miss, then our perception of the risk is lowered and therefore we are more likely to erode vital safety margins (training, equipment, standards and policy). Gareth explores the importance of distinguishing 'could happen' events from 'almost happened' events, understanding levels of uncertainty, mental models, and avoiding the normalization of deviance. What can law enforcement trainers and supervisors do about this? Gareth explains how we can develop counter-factual thinking to raise understanding of how our perception of risk can shift and how to make probabilities more visible. Finally, Gareth explains his DEBrIEF model of how we can strategically guide our people to build important self-reflection skills to improve decision-making and deeply learn from all incidents and near misses. Gareth Lock is the founder of The Human Diver, an organization set up to deliver education and research into the role and benefit of applying human factors, non-technical skills, psychological safety, and ‘just culture’ in sports, military, and scientific diving. He has published the book ‘Under Pressure’ and produced the documentary ‘If only…,’ both focused on improving safety and performance by looking at incidents through the lens of human factors. Show Notes from Gareth Lock:  www.thehumandiver.com - where everything I do in the world of diving sits!  www.humaninthesystem.com - this is where I put my non-diving programmes! DEBrIEF framework - www.thehumandiver.com/debrief  Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors - Gareth Lock - www.thehumandiver.com/underpre