Evolution of Public Safety Dive Training

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Public Safety Dive Team

In a time not so long ago (at least to me) in the growing pains of the middle 1980’s, the Public Service Diver was soon to be thrust into evolution. At this time in my diving endeavors, if you owned a set of scuba gear you could be called upon to act as a recovery diver. The call may come from a Fire Department, Law Enforcement or EMS division. The caller always started with, “We need you to just drop down and do a recovery”. Such a simple phrase would lead to a broad spectrum of possibilities and dangers for the diver. The public service diver may be requested to dive looking for a body, weapon, vehicle, boat, some type of evidence used in a crime or any combination of the above. In the caller’s mind all you had to do was descend upon this item and simply bring it up. If the call was for a drowning victim, rarely would we try a rescue or resuscitation of the victim. Most public service divers simply were not trained even in the very basic life saving techniques or we were told at the time any submersion longer than 45 minutes was always a signal 30 (fatality). Later this was found not to be true in some cases.

After several incidents (deaths or near deaths) the tide started changing. Fire, L.E., and EMS started looking to their own groups for the public service divers. Unfortunately with the same mental attitude of sending the diver into the water be it: cold, deep, zero viz, rapid water, ice or all of the above, with the task of simply bringing said item to the surface. There was no budget for extra equipment or even many times a second diver.

As you can see, Public Service divers on the most part were poorly trained and with only their own basic personal dive equipment. Looking back at these times it is a wonder we did not have more injuries and deaths than we did. Early 90’s – Fire, L.E. and EMS started implementing better guidelines, though not enough. I remember when the call went out for public service divers to be at least rescue trained. This made Command staff feel warm and fuzzy… of course they usually were not divers themselves. The Command staff mind set was that a rescue certification would really bring their dive team to a higher level of proficiency. As a public service diver we had to go to the school of hard knocks. We soon realized just dropping down and doing some blind searching to find our item was not as simple as it sounded. If we did find, let’s say the weapon we were looking for, we would immediately surface with this item to show the rest of the team. Lots of team high 5’s would be in order and then would come the team photos with everyone huddled around the item, smiling and giving the thumbs up.

But once in court, being questioned by a defense attorney, the Public Service Diver would on occasion be made to look very bad. Little things, such as questions on the depth of the water, distance of the item from shore, would often set up the public service diver for failure in court. So we adapted, and again learned from our mishaps in the legal realm. We were also realizing that past practices of simply tying a rope around the diver and sending them into all types of water conditions was not working well. The public service diver needed more structure and a lot more training.

The year is now 2000 and this new training agency called ERDI has just launched. What a breath of fresh air!! ERDI has met OSHA’s guidelines along with NFPA recognition. Now dive teams could come together to work on large scale events. The teams may have never practiced together before this call out but that is not a problem because both teams are ERDI certified. Having continuity in this industry is a must and we have learned this over the years through the many struggles presented to the PSD. We have learned to know what we are doing and how to do it well. As well as deciding if the risk is worth the benefit of the dive. ERDI offers many opportunities in training the public service dive teams. I have to say as a dive team commander who cares about his team members deeply, “Thanks ERDI, we have all come a long way. With your help, you have given dive teams more knowledge on a wide spectrum”. Where else can you get specialized training such as Under Water Crime Scene Investigation, Under Water Threat Assessment, Going to Court, Swift Water rescue, basic and advanced level Medic programs and so many more all under one roof? As I always say, “There is never a routine dive” and ERDI has the courses to train us in all levels of public service. You guys rock! Keep up the continuing education, research and development, and again thank you.

Deputy D. Autry
Sheriff’s Office, Dive Team Commander

PS Diver Training – The whole team concept

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Public Safety Dive Team

In the public and Hollywood perception, the hero is the lone Officer, Firefighter or Good Samaritan that saves the day and carries the child or kitten to safety. And though we may be either volunteer or career divers it was not by our efforts alone that the mission was completed. How many times in training do we see tasks performed well by individuals yet the objective is missed, done poorly, or needs to be timed with a sundial? Every member has a function to perform within the team and that can only be done in an all-inclusive program. The ERDI training curriculum and experienced instructors give the dive team and its members the knowledge and skills to complete the mission, not just the task.

It starts at the top and is refined with trial. Every consistently good team begins “on the beach” and before it even gets wet the team sets the command structure for the town, county, state and/or national response that meets the local area. This means knowing and using the Incident Management System or I.M.S. For a new team the consideration is: who is in charge and what is the jurisdiction having authority or J.H.A? What are your standard operating guidelines or procedures and when should it be a guideline or not? Does it conflict with OSHA or NFPA standards? Will it stand up in court? Did you over-reach our training abilities or qualifications? ERDI Professionals are members of existing teams and have acted as trainers, divers and many even hold command staff positions.

With the ERDI curriculum and guidance of an ERDI Instructor, the roles of Team Leader (Incident command), Assistant Team Leader, Operations and Training, are clearly defined. There are the behind the scenes personnel that keep the team functioning and are ready to respond as equipment, medical, records, and public relations coordinators; and of course the shore and line tender technicians, primary and safety divers. Your team may require Specialty Technicians in lifting, crime scene, confined space or decontamination to name a few. Also, most team members work in several of the roles as needed to make a cohesive team and to cover absences or illness.

What really sets ERDI apart is the dive team’s ability to select the type and amount of training as time, money and local conditions permit. Following NFPA and OSHA standards for Awareness, Operations and Technician level training is the hallmark of our agency. Even within a team, different levels of training are expected and continually change with experience and team needs.

ERDI certification is not withdrawn for failure to pay continual fees to a corporate agency but is continued with consistent and documented training on your part. We strive to help you keep your team viable, safe and ready to serve. It might be in your team’s best interest to have ERDI-trained Divemasters and/or Assistant Instructors as part of your ongoing program. That is what ERDI is all about and your ERDI Instructor is a team asset.

The Story of the Napkin

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TDI Napkin Logo

As told by Mitch Skaggs, annotated & documented by International Training

“When we started Technical Diving International back in the day, we went against everything everyone thought about and believed in at the time. I always wanted to change the dive industry. I kept telling myself… don’t worry about the money… you must first worry about your passion. If you focus on your passion, the money will follow.”

It was that passion along with an interesting series of events that lead to the foundation of Technical Diving International in 1994.

Here we start from the beginning… as told by Mitch. I started diving when I was 11 years old. My instructor was a World War II Master Diver and my equipment consisted of a double hose regulator, double tanks, and the other basic necessities. He may not realize this but he saved my life by showing me what living is all about! As I got older my passion for diving continued to grow. I landed various underwater bridge and construction inspecting jobs that brought me to Southern Florida. It was in Miami in the early 1990’s when I met a beautiful blonde scuba diver. Not only was she a scuba diver but a scuba diving instructor! This was a rarity at the time. Long story short, we ended up together and opened up a dive shop. We specialized in advanced diving and technical dive training. We were one of the only operations in the world blending mixed gases and actively catering to and teaching divers at this level. Keep in mind, during this period nitrox was considered “voodoo gas” and technical diving meant imminent death; it was very controversial to be involved in this area of diving.

We were teaching under another dive training organization. I had to write supplemental materials for my Nitrox students because the organization’s manual was more like an encyclopedia! My students didn’t understand the manual they had to pay an arm and a leg for so I wrote some user friendly materials they could study alongside their required materials. I gave it to them for free and they came to class more prepared and ready to learn.

I came to the conclusion that the dive industry was on a slippery slope since the leaders, the driving force at the time, did not know what was going on in the retail market. I felt the backbone of the dive industry was missing the wants and needs of the consumers by only providing the bare minimum in dive equipment and training materials. We were covered on the equipment side but the training side had some work to do.

After realizing I had a full line of “supplemental” materials on hand ready to assist students in the education process, I started playing with the idea of branching off and creating my own dive training organization. How hard could it be really?

It was that evening I started playing around with business names and logo designs. I wanted the name to be simple, not a set of acronyms you couldn’t remember but simple! I thought to myself… Technical Diving… Technical Diving… Technical Diving International, TDI! That’s it! That’s exactly what we are doing. How much more simple could it get?

People often ask, “Why did you draw the logo on a napkin?” Well after crumpling up all of the paper and throwing it against my kitchen wall, a napkin seemed reasonable. I wanted the logo to start with my roots of diving as a set of doubles. Tanya Burnett and I played with various designs and she sorted out the details on the graphics side after seeing my vision. She continued to make changes here and there and then finalized the logo on the napkin.

We had a name, we had a logo, and we had materials. Now we needed to spread the word. I went to California to present Tools of the Trade – Technical Diving International along the West coast. During these seminars I discussed the business of diving and teaching nitrox. Prior to this I was filling nitrox classes on a weekly basis with 10+ students. I believed it was our responsibility as a dive training organization to give our members the tools necessary to help them conduct programs and make a living on their own. After returning to Florida, I was informed that we had a problem. We had booked over 130 Nitrox Instructor candidates to teach! All from the presentations we had given along the West coast!

We were on the right path, staying busy and filling up instructor programs but the single best thing we ever did with Technical Diving International was bring in Brian Carney. We had the passion, the passion drove the sales but Brian kept us in line. He had the business sense to steer our ship forward and he wasn’t even an owner in the company. He was like our little brother that kept cleaning up our messes… if we booked an Instructor program for 12 candidates, 24 would show up and we wouldn’t have enough materials! Brian preached to us the importance of professionalism in the dive industry and that passion alone wouldn’t allow us to move forward. We had such a diverse group of people setting the path for TDI and Brian was the glue that kept us all together, allowing International Training to become what it is today.

I still remember the vision of Technical Diving International starting out at my kitchen table. The seeds were planted that evening and have since flourished. They continue to grow… and will always grow.

20 Years later with TDI

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TDI Napkin and 20 Years Logo

Wow! I would have never thought, back when I did my initial TDI Nitrox Instructor course in Miami Beach with Mitch Skaggs and David Sipperly, the agency would be where it is today 20 years later.

I was asked recently by a staff member here to write an article reflecting on where the agency came from and where it is today, but had no idea where to start. Upon some reflection I thought I would talk about my personal start to give everyone some insight into TDI’s roots.

Many instructors don’t realize that TDI actually started in Florida and then later moved to Maine. You may have seen the recent story about the napkin, but did you know that TDI operated out of someone’s kitchen initially? Well, my first exposure to TDI came when I traveled to visit a friend, David Sipperly (original manager of TDI), in the Florida Keys in 1994. Upon my arrival at his home, he said I needed to check out this new agency he had recently gotten involved with. I was interested and he promptly walked me over to his kitchen counter and opened up a couple of cabinets and pulled out a few TDI books, stickers, and even a t-shirt (this happened to be the entire inventory of the company at this time, stored in his kitchen cabinets, his girlfriend loved it). After some initial conversations about TDI, I wanted to know how I could become an instructor.

The next morning we went up to Miami Beach to meet with Mitch Skaggs (one of the founders) to take a Nitrox course at his dive shop “H20 Scuba”. At that time Mitch asked everyone who completed the Nitrox course to write their name on the wall. He did this because a lot of people at the time said Nitrox was dangerous and no one would want to take the course. Well years later, there was no more room on the walls, proving the skeptics wrong. So after signing the wall and driving back to Dave’s house, we went into his computer room, which had an old Mac (you know the ones with the tiny screens) and pulled up a spreadsheet. Next, to my surprise, he asked me to pick my instructor number from the sheet so he could print my laminated cert card. It was that simple back then.

A few years later, after countless more courses and materials were added to the curriculum; I was contacted by Bret Gilliam (one of the founders) and asked to work for him at TDI in Maine. The company had such explosive growth in Florida that Bret decided to relocate it to his home state so he could directly oversee the operation. So off I went from my beach house in Rhode Island to work for TDI and Bret, having very little idea what the future would hold. After working with TDI for a few months, Bret called me into his office and asked if I would proofread a new manual. The next thing I knew I was reading the SDI Standards and Procedures manual.

The first draft was okay, but after pointing out the deficiencies in the manual to Bret, he assigned me to rewrite it. To this I replied that I was already an instructor with another agency, how would the company benefit from this? Needless to say Bret was once again way out in front of me and everyone else with his vision, he was right. So off I went, and realizing I needed help to get this project done, I contacted Cliff Simoneau.

Cliff at the time was a rep for TDI and also a close friend (he was the one who actually recommended to Bret that he hire me). Cliff and I spent the next 3 months working on the manual. When we finally handed it over to Bret for approval, thinking we really nailed it, Bret edited with a red pen noting every error and old way of thinking about training. He called Cliff and I back into his office and handed us the manual back and said, “Now go write a program that makes sense! Not one of just regurgitated information from other agencies”. Thus began Cliff’s and my first foray into TDI and SDI being so innovative… and another lesson from founder Bret.

As the years progressed, more and more stories arose that were very similar to the one above, but the one thing I think that makes this agency so special is the people. The organization, while it was the idea of just a few in the beginning, has grown due to the numerous people who have contributed along the way. I could list countless names of those people and what they contributed, but I don’t think I have enough data storage on my computer for that document. Throughout our years of growth and expansion into other agencies, we have always been able to maintain one of our core principals, to be like a family.

Most of our members got involved with diving because of their passion for the sport and it is very easy for us to understand and relate to that passion as we feel the same way. Thus taking away the idea that we are a big corporation, and not treating our members like just another number. We understand that in order for our organization to grow, our members businesses have to grow. So we take the approach that we actually work for our members, and the members let us know what they need in order for us to be successful. It makes it a great organization to be involved with and not only do I work here, but even if I didn’t I would still teach for the agency based on that one thing alone. It is a business but it is run with a lot of heart.

I’m looking forward to the next 20 years.

Sincerely,
Brian

SDI, TDI and ERDI Celebrate 20 years of scuba training innovation

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20 Years Logo

The world’s largest technical diving training agency celebrates 20 years of innovation.

In 1994, Bret Gilliam, David Sipperly and Mitch Skaggs created Technical Diving International (TDI) as a solution to implementing training in specialized diving situations that exceeded the limits and boundaries of what was accepted as sport diving. TDI was to not only provide training, but also educational materials and certifications for many courses that were not only un-popular, but also discouraged by other organizations.

“How can we make things better and different…?” This became the theme and philosophy for the next 20 years.

During this time, two other training agencies evolved from TDI that followed the same training mentality. The first agency to surface was Scuba Diving International (SDI), formed in 1998. SDI was designed to be the sport arm of TDI. The next agency was Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI), formed in 2000. ERDI’s focus was to standardize training for law enforcement, fire rescue and search & rescue/recovery dive teams and be a stand-alone organization focusing on public safety diving.

Under the umbrella of International Training, all three agencies have stayed true to the belief that if improvement can be made on an outdated method, then it should be made, regardless of what the rest of the industry is doing.

Replacing tables with personal dive computers, offering a “Solo Diver” course to the public and introducing the eLearning curriculum have been game changers within the scuba industry itself. But it does not end with new ideas either…

Good customer service and stability within the ranks are the key elements to the growth of the organization. This is not accomplished by making decisions from an ‘ivory tower’ but rather by listening to the divers needs and wants at regional and global levels. The feedback has allowed International Training to grow, prosper and provide more and better materials. We look forward to another 20 years filled with innovation and cutting edge courses with the most up-to-date techniques.

SDI Scuba Discovery for local Boy Scouts

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On December 7th, 2013, Air Hogs Scuba in Garner, NC, took on a mission that many scuba facilities outside certain organizations do not realize is available as an opportunity. That mission was to conduct an SDI Scuba Discovery program for a local Boy Scout troop. The boys met with instructors Joshua Norris and Rob Bradish at 10:00 AM to cover basic information, complete forms with parents, and learn how to assemble and disassemble scuba equipment. Later that afternoon, the boys assembled at a local pool facility to begin their scuba adventure.

First, the boys participated in a small swim and snorkel evaluation, which included the skills necessary to achieve the BSA Snorkel badge. Second, the boys completed the full SDI Scuba Discovery course which earned them the BSA Scuba badge. Finally, the boys were “turned loose,” under the evaluation of their instructors, to play and have fun. This activity left the boys with a taste for diving, and an understanding that with a full certification, the scuba merit badge could be earned.

Working with Boy Scouts is not new to Air Hogs Scuba. In the summer of 2013, the shop participated in a local BSA High Adventure program, which brought between 10 and 20 scouts each week to the facility for introductory scuba programs. A learning curve showed the instructors that the SDI program was easier for the boys to understand and could be complemented with the full open water video presentation. Instructors Thomas Powell, Josh Norris, Rob Bradish, and Anthony Piscopo then chose to only use the SDI program when working with Boy Scouts from that point forward. Similarly, the basic swim and snorkel skills allowed the boys to earn a series of badges during a short period. Essentially, added value was developed. To further expand on shop recognition, the local BSA council provided a customized and tradable patch based on the Air Hogs Scuba logo. Only the boys and girls (Venture Troops) who participated were allowed to earn the customized patch.

An introductory SDI scuba program for Boy Scouts can easily be developed for any International Training facility. This development is a simple process that entails meeting with a council representative, training your staff through online BSA programs, gaining access to troop leaders, and presenting potential value. BSA programs are not agency specific and can be great fun for boys and their families. Similarly, these programs build groups of clientele from area churches, businesses, and organizations.

Find out what to expect in SDI Scuba Discovery Dive Course.

eLearning; The ground breaking move that evolved the diving industry

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eLearning Dive Course

Back in 2000, we looked for a way in which we could offer our academics to the consumer that would take them outside of the classroom. In 1960, the University of Illinois initiated a classroom system with linked computer terminals that allowed students to access informational resources on a particular course while listening to the lectures through television or audio. Innovative forms of education have evolved throughout the decades and people have been able to advance their knowledge and even acquire degrees through different forms of learning media. In the industry of scuba diving, 40 years later, we still had a classroom scenario with a teacher lecturing us on the wonders of dive tables.

Something had to change. It is not that classroom/teacher is not an effective style of learning, it is – but we wanted to make sure that other options existed and were in place. We did not want scuba diving to fall behind as an outdated sport. It was not about trying to change the way students were learning but to open up new ways for students to receive their information.

Imagine going to a beautiful island with turquoise water and white sand. Your time there is limited, as it is your vacation. Spending three days in a classroom seems like torture. With the eLearning system, students could go through the academic portion at home before arrival… now this was an idea worth pursuing.

But it wasn’t just about the resort destinations. It was about being an organization that could offer a contemporary solution to all of our customers. Students didn’t want to drive or spend hours of their evenings in a classroom after a long day at work, and they wanted to be connected. They wanted to be interactive. They wanted to do things the way they did their shopping, their banking, and the way many of them already took other classes for either college or getting a driver’s license… and we wanted to offer that solution.

Once launched, the eLearning program received a lot of negative criticism – both from our competitors and from a few dive center owners that believed we would single-handedly remove the need for dive centers as they thought we were eliminating the need for instructors. This was hardly the case. Instructors and dive centers fit very much into our equation. They are essential. As a matter of fact, we designed the system so that students could only use the eLearning program through a dive center. At the same time, we gave the instructors the ability to view the students’ progress through the course which allowed them to be proactive in planning their review sessions or, for example, to invite the student to the dive center’s show room to look at all the cool stuff after the student had completed the chapter on “Equipment”.

ELearning started to complement the various systems and procedures that instructors already had in place and it wasn’t too long – just a few years – before eLearning was a standard in the scuba diving industry and was offered across the board, regardless of organization.

Innovation didn’t stop there. SDI continued the evolution by being the first to add leadership courses to our eLearning curriculum, and the first to offer programs with our sister agencies, technical diving with TDI, and public safety diving with ERDI. Our next step will be made in early 2014… the final integration of HTML. The platform that is the universal language for mobile phones, tablets, desktops and laptops, HTML will allow anyone, with any device, to enjoy our sport diving curriculum, our tech classes, our public safety courses and our leadership programs.

After 20 years, our commitment to our customers is to continue to bring new developments to the industry while promoting education through safe diving at all levels of training.

Dive Computers – How taking a leap can change the game

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Personal Dive Computer

Photo by Bill Downey

In 1998, Scuba Diving International was born out of the success of its sister agency, Technical Diving International. The no nonsense approach that made TDI such a hit with both instructors and students alike was immediately replicated in a bold move that shocked the rest of the industry – the replacement of dive tables with personal dive computers in open water training.

The move, though it made sense – especially since it was 1998 and not 1968, still raised a few eyebrows among many respectable instructors. “Why was SDI changing the way we do things? The way things have been working for so long….why?”

Because it was time – that’s why.

Though tables may serve a purpose in demonstrating how theory works, mastering them is no longer a requirement to safe diving – especially if diving multiple times a day over numerous days. Using a table as a back-up is also not the best way to go as you would only be able to use your deepest time and your total time rather than a true monitoring graphic of your actual depths and times that were spent at those depths. In other words, with today’s technology the table has become an outdated piece of plastic and a guide to inaccurate information.

However, with the industry creating new personal dive computers every day and making them more and more affordable, the personal dive computer was now becoming a standardized piece of equipment in open water sales. It was no longer just a set of “mask, fins and snorkel” as the required must-have tools to go diving. It was now mask, fins, snorkel and dive computer. Chances are, if you dove, you owned one.

But who was getting proper training on dive computers? Very few. Students would spend a good three to four hours learning how to use the tables. Math and other exercises and room for human error all turned into a mega session of “now flip the chart over and carry the 1”. Being required to do homework during your surface interval while on vacation was not what the customer wanted. While students would go through these hour long lab sessions on the proper use of tables, they would only get a 5 minute overview on how to properly use the computer they just purchased. The computer that would from now on be taken out on scuba trips and depended on for vital information before, during and after the dive. How about we shift the tables? No pun intended. Review the use of tables but focus on how to properly get the most out of the dive computer so that you understand the beeps and the messages and warnings and know what to do. Yes, it makes too much sense.

Though there were several instructors that did not agree with this new way of thinking, most dive centers loved the idea. It not only improved computer sales but it also allowed them to focus their training on better diving using the actual equipment the diver would depend on. Students loved it because it was much more efficient and extremely accurate compared to the tables – especially when considering multi-dives on a 7 day live-a-board.

As a whole, the industry saw this bring scuba a step closer to the year 2000 as far as innovation and staying modern. Today, the majority of the training agencies have followed suit with programs that allow instructors to teach their OW programs using personal dive computers instead of tables.

Interested in a computer diver course? Check out SDI Computer Diver

Top 10 things to look for in 2014

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Top 10

  1. This year, we expect to have our entire website converted to HTML so that it is fully compatible with mobile and tablet devices.
  2. In addition to a fully compatible website, we plan on updating the language from just English to a multilingual website.
  3. eLearning courses for
    • TDI Advanced Trimix
    • SDI Visual Inspection Procedures
    • ERDI Full Face Mask
  4. New and improved products for
    • Extended Range
    • Sidemount
    • ERDI II
    • Wreck, Boat and Drift
  5. A new eCommerce store
  6. More sponsored Tech dive training events with local instructors and facilities
  7. More Public Safety Diver events and demo days with ERDI and DUI
  8. Cool apparel and promotional material for divers and members
  9. New POP Display for dive facilities
  10. Increased use of technology including Videos, Webinars and Social Media to communicate better, faster and more efficiently with our members and facilities.