Febbraio 2011 - Learn to Dive - SDI | TDI | ERDI

From training to operations: ERDI team show their skills

Febbraio 16, 2011/0 Commenti

Vehicle simulator is key to Buck's training program

The Hazlehurst/Jeff Davis (Georgia) Volunteer Fire Department Dive Team received a call from the local sheriff’s office on a cold icy Saturday in January 2011. A report of a vehicle in the Ocmulgee River had been given to the team by a caller on their emergency line.

The dive team arrived at the scene to find local fisherman around, but no one knew anything about a missing vehicle. After a few minutes, the local deputies arrived with the rest of the story. The reported driver of the missing vehicle had been picked up the previous Thursday night and admitted to a mental hospital. The man said he drove his new truck into the river at a local boat ramp. The deputies searched the boat ramp but could not find any evidence of a vehicle. After two days in the hospital the man seemed to be thinking more clearly and insisted that his new truck was in the river. That’s when the dive team was called-in to put training into operation.

On a cold and wet day 12 months earlier, Buck Buchannan of Dive911 had conducted an ERDi light salvage workshop with the Hazlehurst/Jeff Davis VFD Dive Team and Milan VFD Dive Team at Waterdog Scuba in Hazlehurst, Georgia. This was one of the first workshops with Buck’s “vehicle simulator.”

The two-day workshop not only taught the dive teams the how’s and why’s of vehicle recovery but also trained them how to recover a vehicle as safely as possible with minimal subsurface time to the diver. This ERDi light salvage course was designed by Buck Buchannan to provide public safety divers with new techniques and a unique skill set focused on the safe and fast removal of autos/light items from the water.

During this course, Waterdog Scuba students gained experience using a full size automobile simulator that brought a real-world feel to the workshop. As Buck explained “You don’t just simulate it, you do it.” Topics covered in the workshop included rigging, remote lifting, and search techniques for new and older autos.

Now back to January 2011. Armed with the complete story from the sheriff’s deputy, the team, consisting of divers from the Hazlehurst/Jeff Davis VFD Dive Team and Milan VFD Dive Team, went to work.

Six team members were present: team captain, two tenders and three divers. The deputy was used as a scribe. The primary diver hooked to the tender line to make a cursory sweep of the boat ramp. Then the primary diver went down and started his sweep. After locating the wreck, he gave three tugs to the tender. The diver asked for more slack by giving two tugs and began his cursory search of the vehicle. The diver then attached his contingency line to the vehicle to make his trolley system for the wrecker. Once the line was in place the diver surfaced and exited the water.

Buck Buchannan showing safety harness rig

The dive boss turned to the deputy and asked, “Where’s the wrecker?” The deputy looked perplexed at the request being made so soon. The dive boss explained, “Your vehicle is at the other end of that line.”

Upon arrival of the wrecker, the primary diver reentered the water and attached the wrecker cable to the vehicle’s frame, then exited the water. Total dive time combining the initial location dive and the hook-up dive – 11 minutes!

Thanks goes out to Buck Buchannan of Dive911 for the training he provided to our local teams.

“Courage through knowledge-Skill through training.”

Waterdog Scuba along with Dive911 we be holding a “Light Salvage” workshop on Friday, March 11^th(6:00pm-9:00pm) and Saturday, March 12^th (8:00am-5:00pm). This workshop will be sponsored by the Hazlehurst/Jeff Davis VFD, Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office, and Jeff Davis County EMA. Anyone interested can register by contacting Waterdog Scuba at waterdogscuba@bellsouth.net. Registration cost: $90.

Students gain experience using a full size automobile simulator that brings a real world feel to this workshop. You don’t just simulate it, you do it!! Topics covered will include rigging, remote lifting, techniques for new and old autos, and much more.

Emergency Response Diver International (ERDi) Instructors will provide an introduction to their varied and in- depth Public Safety Diver training programs. These training programs should be an integral part of any PSD or SAR training regimen.

Getting your business in order

Febbraio 16, 2011/0 Commenti

There are only two times in the year when visitors to my office are able to negotiate the space from the door to my desk without stepping over at least one but possibly many more piles of files and assorted paperwork “ready for filing.”

It’s not that I dislike filing more than you or the next person, or that I am particularly disorganized, it’s just that there are more important things to occupy the 9 to 5 workday – which in the realm of small business, the mythical 9 to 5 workday should be translated into “waking hours.”

My business is small; much smaller than yours in all likelihood, and easier to operate I expect. I do not have more than a handful of inventory items to manage and my customer list can be handled with the simplest CMS on the market. The list of vendors I deal with is also short enough that I have their phone numbers and other contact details committed to memory, and my weekly To-Do List fits on a small whiteboard mounted on the wall beside my workdesk.

However, keeping up to date on the little things like filing and sorting through the occasional back order or course agendas, as well as juggling my commitments to Brian and the team here at SDI/TDI/ERDI can be a challenge. Hence, the messy office floor except at tax time and just before the end of year break (my traditional time of clean sweeping).

I cannot image how it would be to operate a full-scale dive business out there in the real world. Seriously, how do you do it? Last year we published a short business article about dive store owners having to wear many hats, from bookkeeping and warehouse manager to HR specialist and marketing guru. Some of you contacted us to tell us about the jobs we’d left off the list!

So here is my question: How do you do it?

We’re lucky enough at International Training HQ to have some real dive industry talent walking the corridors and willing to answer that sort of question. Last week I posed it to two guys whose input I respect greatly: Ed Christini and Nestor Palmero.

They both said essentially the same thing: “impossible without modern technology.” What they listed included things like smart phones, cloud computing, and customized business apps specific to the dive industry. Now, in case you do not know Ed and Nestor, please understand, neither of these guys are computer geeks or techno freaks; just the opposite in many respects. They are both very solidly grounded and comfortable with tried and true business practices; and neither is… well how to be diplomatic here… neither is a member of the wired generation. However, their take on the best ways to succeed in the dive business today revolve around taking advantage of the ALL the tools available including the hi-tech ones.

“There is no substitute for the very fundamentals of customer service,” said Palmero, whose CV includes heading up Oceanic before joining our organization as board representative. “But there is also no point in ignoring the potential market impact offered by things like social networking and smart email software to stay connected to your customers!”

The one problem area where they both agreed technology is king, is in organizing the day-to-day business that revolves around sales, inventory control, classroom scheduling and bookkeeping (both general business and the bookkeeping specific to student records management).

One answer to that challenge according to Christini is a POS system.

“I cannot imagine running a dive operation today without the help of some kind of integrated merchant service system with at very least a pretty sophisticated point of sale / service solution,” Christini said.

But Christini admits a bias. “I have to say that my viewpoint is very pro POS systems in the dive business and that is one of the reasons I spearheaded SDI/TDI’s initiative to work with a vendor (EnCorp) to develop a customized and affordable system for our members.”

Ask him why and the reasons tumble out of his mouth. “Tracking sales on items that lose money and that make money, keeping the essentials in stock and on the shelves, knowing how many spots are open in the next dive class, having student records available at the click of a button, projections for sales and promotions…” His list goes on.

However, the real kicker for me at least was Christini’s final remark. “Steve, dive store owners who invest in a POS system and who use its full potential avoid having an office that looks like yours!”

My final word is this: I would like to find out how you keep your business affairs in order. Drop me an email enews@tdisdi.com. If you are interested in finding out more about POS or if the floor in YOUR office looks similar to mine, just ask and include a phone number, and I’ll get Ed to give you a call.

Next Month Business Tips will focus on Training and the role of prerequisites in risk management.

From training to operations: ERDI team show their skills

Febbraio 15, 2011/0 Commenti