Ottobre 2014 - Learn to Dive - SDI | TDI | ERDI

Public Safety Diving Lessons Learned from Recovery Operation

Ottobre 28, 2014/0 Commenti

by Eric Brooks, SDI/TDI/ERDI Instructor Trainer #8699:
On September 5, 2014 the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Dive Team was called out to assist Graham County Sheriff’s Office with the recovery of a potential drowning victim. The mission (as described in a news brief written by Sgt. Ursula Ritchie) lead to the successful recovery of a 26-year-old male who failed to complete the swim across the lake. A debriefing and eventual after-action report emphasized several lessons learned from the dive mission. Those lessons and their potential benefits to future missions are the focus of this article.

The mission consisted of setting up an inflatable raft 100 feet off shore of the boat ramp to use as a dive platform to search the area between 100 and 200 feet from shore, and deploying a second diver to search the area from shore to 100 feet out (to the raft). Dive team one consisted of ERD Instructor Bill Jordan and two ERD tenders Mike Turner and Wayne Hughes (who would act as the tender for the backup diver, ERD Instructor Trainer Eric Brooks). Their mission would be to search the far area using the raft as a dive platform Dive team two consisted of Eric Williams, Dominic Epps and Scott Schneeweis. Their mission would be to search the area between the boat ramp and the raft. Additionally, ERD tender Travis Chesna and Graham County SAR member Tom Sawyer operated the team’s dive boat, and acted as the mission safety officers and team shuttle. After diver number two got tangled in the raft anchor line, his search pattern was reduced to prevent further entanglement. Once both divers completed their initial search of their assigned areas, backup diver Brooks deployed to search the area around the raft anchor that had been an obstacle to diver Williams. The search around the anchor eventually lead to the recovery of the victim.

What lessons can be learned from this mission? First and foremost, it is important to utilize all members of your dive team in the planning process. By discussing the “plan” and asking junior/new members of the dive team how they think the mission should be run, you give them a chance to think through the process. This will become more beneficial on future missions as their experience, training and skills improve and they become ready to run missions on their own. This type of experience helps to build confidence and gives team members situations to draw from to use for future missions. Additionally, utilizing all of the members on the team helps to keep interest. CCSAR is a volunteer dive team. Having members take an active role in the mission keeps them interested and excited about future trainings and diving opportunities.

The second lesson learned deals directly with the search area. Having documentation on what areas were searched and what areas need to be researched is important so that areas are not missed. With this specific mission, the second dive team had an issue in their search area and it was decided to proceed, omitting the problem area, and then returning to it at a later time when the anchor could be removed. As it turned out the victim was in the problem area. Our team uses a backup tender to map the dive area using a form developed specifically for this purpose (see attached photo). With multiple search areas, the incident commander in conjunction with the dive team leader can look at all of the mapped searched areas and determine if any area was missed, or poorly searched. In this particular mission it was important to completely eliminate the first 200 feet from the boat ramp out towards the middle of the lake before moving the operation farther from shore. Additionally, these maps could become part of the chain of evidence in a trial, and therefore, should be signed by the cartographer and kept on file.

The third lesson learned involves diver training and staying current in your dive skills (and tether line communications). As it turns out one of the divers who showed up to the mission was not allowed to dive because of a lapse in his training. He was given support duties and at the end of the mission, he was allowed to dive to refresh his skills in order to become reactivated. As it turned out he was unable to successfully complete his refresher and it became apparent that the call to not allow him to dive was the right call. On that same note, divers and tenders need to practice their line communication, as these are perishable skills. We utilized full-face masks with communications, but our team is still trying to work out some of the bugs with our units, so we actually dive using both line pulls and voice communications. The point here is that it is important for team members to stay current with line signal just in case voice communications becomes inoperable. (We have also planned a future training session to work on our voice communication issues.)

With the successful completion of a mission and/or training it is important for dive teams to assess the lessons learned during these events. These lessons can become the focus of future training sessions as well as key factors to remember when conducting actual dive missions in order to make them safer and more successful.

Eric Brooks is the owner of ProTech Scuba LLC and an SDI/TDI/ERDI Instructor Trainer. He has been a volunteer member of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue since 1999. For questions and/or comments about the article or becoming an ERD Instructor you can email him at divemexico@protechscuba.com.

3 Things to Keep Your Public Safety Dive Team Safe

Ottobre 27, 2014/0 Commenti

by Dr. Thomas W. Powell:
In the modern scuba industry, individuals have many paths to choose from. One of the most complex routes an individual may take is that of the public safety diver. A public safety diver must first be a recreational scuba diver, and then choose to entertain black water, dangerous environments, and complex procedural standards. These factors suggest that a dive team made up of public safety divers must work hard to ensure member safety while seeking objective completion. Three of the most important factors that can keep a public safety diver safe are: knowing the environment and bottom, understanding risk versus benefit, and having the proper equipment.

Understanding the Environment

Understanding the environment in which a public safety dive team operates is critical. Every ERDI public safety course starts by telling students to “size up” a scene and take note of important information. This information may include objects such as vehicle wreckage or dangerous entry points, or even problematic odors such as the scent of fuel or dangerous gasses. If divers cannot prep and perform in a safe fashion, the associated mission is likely to grow problematic or unsafe.

Similarly, divers are taught to obtain information from outside resources and even witnesses to better understand a dive environment. A witness may help to focus a search area, while a local may know the bottom features of a body of water. Fishermen often know where lines get snagged or boats have trouble. If a witness can help narrow a search area, the divers will have a reduced area to cover which may reduce diver exhaustion and the total time underwater. If a local can provide information, a team leader may be better prepared for planning the proper search patterns or team resources to overcome possible hazards that were otherwise unknown.

Finally, public safety divers are taught to obtain information about water quality. This information may come from local labs, state facilities, or even the Environmental Protection Agency. This information can be filed and maintained to ensure that when a team deploys, as much data as possible is available to determine if a dive operation should be performed. Knowing the quality of water in a specific location may help a diver plan what equipment and support resources are needed. This knowledge may also help to show the need for resources maintained at differing departments (such as a HAZMAT team) to be made available on the scene of a dive.

Risk vs. Benefit

In regard to risks versus benefits, all forms of diving involve some level of risk analysis. A recreational diver must analyze possible depths, temperatures, personal health, and other factors to determine if a dive should be considered reasonable and safe on a satisfactory level. Public safety diving is no different other than to involve a greater set of risk factors. Team leaders and individual divers must determine if the lack of visibility, dangerous water quality, underwater hazards, and various other factors make a search worthwhile. For example, if a criminal has admitted to a crime, and other evidentiary factors have almost sealed a case for a prosecutor, the handgun lost in a swamp may not be worth seeking if the risk associated with harming a diver is too great.

Divers operating on public safety dive teams must recognize potential threats and safety concerns. Every diver is a dive safety officer when it comes to the safety of his/her self and others. If entries are too dangerous, another route must be planned. If the water quality is too poor and dry suits are not available, the team must decide not to dive. No item, weapon, or remains, is worth the life of a healthy public safety diver. All divers accept risks when they choose to entertain the sport of scuba diving. Despite this, a team or dive organization must remember that liability is a constant issue when the safety of others is in question. The reality is that a team and its members must determine what level of risk they consider to be safe (following historical and data-based guidance), and work together to not violate this limitation. Finding a missing item is a success for any dive team, but the family members of an injured diver may not recognize any level of success over the injury.

Having the Right Equipment

Finally, a dive team must have and maintain proper equipment for the missions in which the team may choose to participate. ERDI divers are taught that all dives should be considered to involve contaminated water unless definitive proof shows otherwise. This education suggests that divers operating within public safety parameters should be fully encapsulated with dry suits, fitted and attached hoods, full-face masks, and attached gloves and boots. The equipment used by dive team members should also be standardized to ensure that every team member knows where items are placed and how to assist one-another during an emergency. Similarly, a diver should never be required to bail out of his or her mask if at all possible. For this reason, switch blocks become essential to allow a diver to switch to backup gasses as needed. The lines used to connect divers to tenders must be sturdy and rated to handle contact with sharp objects underwater. In regard to secondary search equipment, metal detectors or sonars can reduce search times, decontamination equipment ensures a higher level of individual safety, and even items like cylinder stands can ensure increased comfort and safety when dealing with diver exhaustion during decontamination.

A dive team must be prepared to provide to its divers the equipment that they need. Once this equipment is possessed, it must be maintained and serviced on a regular basis. When equipment is subjected to the worst possible environments, service is critical to prevent possible failures.

If a dive team seeks to understand its operational environment, maintains proper equipment, and ensures the benefits of an operation outweigh the risks, that team is more likely to experience success and higher levels of diver safety. Safety should be the first concern of any dive team. No operation is worth the lives of team members, and the risks associated with public safety dive operations must always be recognized and monitored to the highest degree possible.

-Dr. Thomas W. Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC

Don’t Forget Your Life Vests and PFDs

Ottobre 27, 2014/0 Commenti

by Brianne Grant:

photo by: Keith Cormican

It has become common for public safety divers and dive team members to overlook the importance of wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) during training or missions in, near, or on water. Somewhere in the evolution of personal flotation devices, their necessity was lost among the burden to wear them. PFDs can be cumbersome but they are one more piece of personal protective equipment public safety team members should be applying before responding to or entering a scene.

Teams will often view PFDs as a necessary evil because they are just one more thing that must be brought along and worn. In the quick commotion of an actual operation, PFDs can easily be forgotten. This could result in a potential negative outcome such as accidental submersion. When responding to missions, or operating in monthly training, required PFD use is typically outlined in a team’s standard operating procedures or guidelines (SOP/SOG) however referencing these guidelines is often neglected.

PFDs are crucial to a team’s safety in rescue or recovery scenarios that involve swift water or ice, for rescuers, tenders as well as other team members on site. A PFD will help keep a submerged team member’s head afloat in the event they are accidentally knocked off balance, tugged in, or forced to enter the water unexpectedly.

Public safety PFDs are typically a neon color (usually orange) with reflective tape lining the front, sides, and back for easy identification or location. This unique identifier is another crucial safety feature for team members or those responding to the scene, especially for operations conducted at night. The neon color of the PFD makes it easy for victims to identify who the rescuer is, as well as give tenders and team members a distinct visual reference to track during the mission.

Not only do PFDs help with in-water incidents for team members but also with on-land incidents. The vest that members reluctantly put on over their uniforms, adds an additional protective layer. PFDs can protect members against unfavorable weather, adding an extra layer of warmth and holding in body heat. They also add an additional layer of cushion should a member be impacted by rescue equipment or to the ground by accident.

PFDs are not a thing of the past, and can help no one when tucked into truck storage compartments, strapped to a boat, or left in an inaccessible location. PFDs should be the first piece of personal protective equipment team members use before accessing, entering, or responding to any potential water mission or training. Yes they are cumbersome but try and stay afloat with knee high waders on, I bet you’ll no longer think they’re a pain!

3 Ways to Improve Your Air Consumption

Ottobre 15, 2014/0 Commenti

by: Jon Kieren

The goal of every avid diver is simple: Spend as much of your life as possible underwater. On open circuit SCUBA, we all have one major limiting factor, the amount of gas we brought down with us (along with no decompression limits, but this article will only address gas supply). Most new divers will have the same reaction when diving with a group, “How does everyone else stay down so much longer than me?” While this quickly fades after just a few dives as the beginner starts to be more comfortable, their breathing will relax a bit, and they are diving just as long as most of the others in the group. However, there are always those exceptions in the group that are able to stay down twice as long as everyone else. What are they doing that’s so different? Do they have gills? Well, no, but some of it is simply physiology. Small people with tiny lungs simply breathe less. Their smaller bodies require less oxygen for metabolism, and it takes far less gas volume to fill their lungs. Much of the rest stems from these three simple tricks.

1. Relax.

This is the hardest part for newer divers. Being underwater is both exciting and also a bit stressful at first. When people are excited, their breathing rate tends to increase. As you breathe faster, you tend to breathe shallower. Fast shallow breaths are very inefficient for gas exchange, and your body starts to build up carbon dioxide (CO2). As CO2 builds up, your body’s natural response is to increase your breathing rate. It’s a vicious cycle that results in a vastly increased air consumption rate and shorter dives. Relax and focus on your breathing, with extra attention on the exhalations. Make sure you are ridding your body of all of the built up CO2, and you will see a drastic improvement in your air consumption.

2. Slow Down.

Scuba diving is not a race. We know it’s exciting and you want to see as much as possible, but you’ll actually see MORE the slower you go. Swimming fast means you’re working harder and breathing harder, which means you’re breathing through your tank faster. If you see something amazing, don’t chase after it, let it come to you. Critters don’t like to be chased around the ocean, and you’re probably not going to be able to catch whatever it is anyway. Slow down and take your time and you’ll be able to stay down significantly longer, and in turn see more.

3. Get yourself weighted properly.

Many divers, both new and experienced alike, have a horrible habit of diving over-weighted. Their thought process is typically “I’d rather have too much weight than not enough, because I can always add more air to my BCD.” While to some extent this is true, and you can become neutrally buoyant by adding more air to your BCD, your air consumption will suffer. This happens for two reasons, both which take a brief physics review to explain. First of all, adding weight to a diver increases the diver’s mass. Even though you have added air to the BCD to counter the gravitational pull by adding buoyancy, the diver’s mass has still increased. Increasing a divers mass also increases his inertia, meaning it requires more force to propel the diver through the water. More force means the diver’s body will need to metabolize more oxygen, creating more CO2, increasing the diver’s breathing rate. Not only does over-weighting increase a diver’s inertia, but it also will have a negative impact on the diver’s trim. When a diver falls out of horizontal trim, they are faced with increased resistance when trying to move through the water. More resistance means it will require more force to move the same distance. Starting to see how diving over-weighted can seriously impact a diver’s air consumption?

Relax, slow down, and get properly weighted and you’re on your way to improving your air consumption. Just like anything, practice makes better, and the only way to truly improve is to get out there and dive as much as possible. Working with an experienced instructor can help get your weighting, trim, and buoyancy control dialed in, while the rest just comes from experience.

6 Perks of Full Face Mask

Ottobre 15, 2014/0 Commenti

by Brianne Grant:
Sport divers commonly make the mistake of thinking that diving a full face mask is just for public safety divers, when in fact they can be fun and beneficial for the sport diver too!

Communications Option – Full face masks have the option to be used in conjunction with underwater communication systems, which are available for sport divers. Divers can have the ability to communicate with each other, the surface, a boat, or all three. Being able to verbally communicate underwater can be an awesome experience for courses such as fish identification or underwater collector. Even for fun recreational dives, under water communications eliminate the guess work of hand signals, and allow divers to share their encounters on the spot!
- Wireless communications – Wireless comms are great for diver-to-diver communications. Consisting of a microphone for divers to speak into, and an ear piece or small transmitter with channel options. Typically these are small units that can easily be attached to almost any full face mask unless there is a manufacturer specific unit. Ocean Reef and Ocean Technology Systems (OTS) have reliable and user-friendly systems.
- Transducer communications – This is similar to the wireless system however it is typically used from one diver to a transducer or receiver that is in the water and relayed to the communication box. This type of system is commonly used for divers who work the dive boat circuit. The transducer system allows the diver to be on the bottom and report conditions back to the boat.
Security – Some sport divers do not like the idea that a regulator could be knocked out of their mouth, or that their mask could potentially become dislodged from their face during an entry into the water.
- A full face mask provides a single unit housing both the breathing apparatus and the mask, and secures both to the face. This eliminates the potential of a regulator falling out or being knocked out and also makes it very difficult for a mask to come loose or off. Full face masks are great for the different water entries sport divers use depending on dive conditions (back rolls, giant strides, cannon balls, shore entries).
Visibility – Just like scuba diving or snorkeling masks, full face masks have either a silicone or latex skirt that can be clear or black; the biggest distinguishing factor is going to be the surface area of the visual field in the full face mask.
- Skirts – Black or clear skirts on a regular mask can often give sport divers the feeling of claustrophobia because the skirt sits closer to our peripheral line of vision. Full face mask skirts sit further away from the eye; they sit closer to the hair and chin line giving the diver better peripheral vision, especially in a clear or lighter colored skirt.
- Visual field – The visual field on a full face mask is larger than that of a scuba or snorkeling mask.
Comfort – Some sport divers prefer using a full face mask for several comfort reasons:
- Mouth Pieces – A typical regulator system can be cumbersome, oversized, and uncomfortable, or the bite tabs can be chewed off. Full face masks do not have bite tabs or a mouth piece that requires a lip seal around it, instead a diver’s mouth is free eliminating any of the discomfort felt with a regulator mouth piece.
- Jaw fatigue – Often sport divers will bite down on the mouth piece tabs very hard which can result in jaw fatigue or post dive soreness. This can be uncomfortable and of some concern to divers who have been medically cleared and dive with TMJ, as biting down on bite tabs can cause jaws to lock or seize up. Full face masks help to eliminate jaw fatigue because they do not require the diver to hold a regulator in their mouth.
Protection – Full face masks can provide additional protection from various in-water elements:
- Jelly fish! They like to sneak up on us and sting our faces, necks, and heads when we’re diving which is never fun. Full face masks help protect our face, portions of our neck, and forehead from those sneaky buggers.
- Sunburn – Full face masks can help limit our sun exposure while diving and surfacing. Although most divers don’t realize it, we can get sunburned while diving, especially in tropical or shallow conditions. Ultra violet rays can penetrate through the water and can often be magnified, those rays can also reflect off the sandy ocean floor in turn providing us divers with sunburn. Sometimes sport divers forget about the sun exposure to our faces because we concentrate on the other exposure the rest of our body is susceptible to. Full face masks can help limit and filter the sunlight penetration and reflection providing us with some additional protection.
- Ice diving – This specialty can be made more enjoyable by diving a full face mask since it will encapsulate the entire face protecting it from the cold water. Our heads lose a lot of heat, and relatively quickly, but by using a hood and full face mask, ice diving can be enjoyed more comfortably.
Specialty Course – SDI does offer Full Face Mask as a specialty rating which is great for the sport diver looking to expand their diver knowledge!
- The SDI Full Face Mask course only requires an Open Water Scuba Diver certification as a prerequisite. This course can be great for sport divers looking to attain the Advanced Diver rating, Master Diver rating, or those moving towards a professional rating.

These are just a few of the advantages for sport divers using full face masks. There are many manufacturers and styles of full face masks that are available for the sport diver. They come in a variety of colors and sizes to fit the needs of each individual diver. If you are interested in the SDI Full Face Mask course or want to learn more about a particular full face mask, check in with your local SDI dive shop here.

Ascent Video

Ottobre 10, 2014/0 Commenti

Disclaimer: Skills demonstrated in this video, and others, are not a substitute for training with a professional TDI instructor. Please avoid practicing these skills, or purchasing technical equipment, before consulting with a TDI instructor.

Back Kick Video

Ottobre 10, 2014/0 Commenti

Disclaimer: Skills demonstrated in this video, and others, are not a substitute for training with a professional TDI instructor. Please avoid practicing these skills, or purchasing technical equipment, before consulting with a TDI instructor.

Public Safety Diving Lessons Learned from Recovery Operation

3 Things to Keep Your Public Safety Dive Team Safe

Don’t Forget Your Life Vests and PFDs