The FlowState Way: Training Philosophy, Policies & Procedures

The preceding page set out who holds authority to grant a waiver. This page sets out what can actually be waived under that authority - organised by category, so a mentor, diver, or reviewing Mentor Evaluator can quickly see what falls within scope and what does not.

Training-Specific Requirements

Individual elements of a specific training's standard - a particular prerequisite condition, an equipment specification that doesn't reasonably apply to a diver's documented circumstances, or a training-specific site or duration requirement - may be waived by FlowState Divers leadership where a genuine, documented case supports it. This category is deliberately broad because training-specific standards themselves vary enormously across our seventeen programmes, but the threshold for granting a waiver here does not vary: the underlying purpose of the requirement must still be satisfied by some other means, or must genuinely not apply to the diver's actual circumstances.

Numerical Prerequisites Between Programmes

Where a training-specific standard requires a minimum number of non-training dives, a minimum interval, or a similar numerical threshold between one programme and the next, a Mentor Evaluator may waive that specific figure - but only on the strength of direct, verifiable evidence that the underlying competency the figure was meant to protect is already genuinely present. A waiver here is never a waiver of the competency itself. It is a waiver of the specific counting mechanism ordinarily used to infer that competency, granted because the evaluator has confirmed it directly instead.

Training Obligations Based on Prior Experience

Where a diver arrives with substantial, verifiable experience from another agency, a related diving discipline, or extensive documented independent practice, a Mentor Evaluator may waive the requirement to sit the full training itself and instead grant the diver the opportunity to proceed directly to a currency assessment for that programme. This is not an award of the evaluation outcome itself - it is a waiver of the training route ordinarily required to reach that outcome, replaced by the chance to demonstrate the competency directly, under the same criteria and scoring model any diver completing the training would be held to. This category exists to avoid asking a genuinely experienced diver to sit through training that would teach them nothing new, without ever skipping the verification itself. It is exercised narrowly, and only where the evaluator has personally judged the assessment route to be warranted, not on the strength of a diver's prior certification card or self-report alone. As stated elsewhere in this document, a certification from another organisation is a claim, not a verification - and a currency assessment is what turns that claim into one.

Minimum Age Requirements

FlowState Divers Headquarters holds authority to waive minimum age requirements for specific classes, where local law and a genuine, individually assessed readiness both support doing so. This authority is applied narrowly and considers the specific diver, the specific programme, and the specific legal context involved - it is never extended as a blanket exception applied to age requirements generally.

Training Location Requirements

Where a training-specific standard specifies a minimum number of distinct training locations - relevant, for instance, to certain overhead or specialised environments - FlowState Divers Headquarters holds authority to waive that requirement where logistical or environmental circumstances genuinely make an alternative arrangement equivalent in substance to what the requirement was designed to ensure.

What Cannot Be Waived, Under Any Authority

Several categories of requirement in this document sit entirely outside any waiver authority described here, regardless of who is asking or what circumstances are presented:

• Core diving parameters - depth, gas, and decompression limits, ppO₂ ceilings, END limits, and reserve gas requirements.
• Minimum and maximum team size.
• Minimum age of 18. Note this differs from the class-specific age waiver above: the absolute floor of 18 years is not itself waivable under any circumstance; what Headquarters may waive is a class-specific age threshold set above that floor, never the floor itself.
• Fundamental equipment redundancy requirements, including the core configuration set out earlier in this document.
• The evaluation-record-in-place-of-certification model itself, and the requirement that every individually required skill meet its own standard rather than being averaged away.
• The universal entry standard in Who We Train - Open Water Diver certification from a recognised agency, and valid SCUBA insurance. Programme-specific numerical or training-specific prerequisites may be waivable under the categories above; the entry floor itself is not.

These exist independent of any individual diver's circumstances, and no role described in this document holds authority to set them aside, temporarily or otherwise.

Documentation Requirement, Restated

Every waiver granted under any category above must be documented in writing at the time it is granted - what was waived, the specific evidence or reasoning behind the decision, and who granted it - and retained in line with the record-keeping standards set out elsewhere in this document. An undocumented waiver, however well-intentioned, is not a valid waiver, and confers no standing on the diver or mentor who relied on it.