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Home , Diver training, Muscle memory, Public safety diving

WITH NAUI

FOURTH QUARTER 2017 QUARTER FOURTH FOURTH QUARTER 2017 SOURCES THE JOURNAL OF UNDERWATER EDUCATION SOURCES

CONTENTS

NAUI CORE 1.0 Preview! PAGE 16 Human Factors in PSD PAGE 42 NAUI PSD Coast to Coast PAGE 44 Lifelong Lifeguard: Training with Team Lifeguard Systems PAGE 56 NAUI DEFINES DEMA 2017 - SPECIAL SECTION PAGE 61 THE DEFINITION OF DIVING TRAINING HEALTHY DIVING

New candidates prepare for a swim test during the New England State Police Administrators Conference. Making Better Public Safety Divers By Stephen J. Bigelow, NAUI 54734 Photos Courtesy of Mass. State Police Underwater Recovery Unit Underwater Police State Courtesy ofPhotos Mass.

ublic safety dive teams provide vital marine services a huge benefit for public safety divers. “Training with to rescue and law enforcement organizations all standardized equipment configurations is essential to Pover the world. A well-trained dive team can tackle the muscle for the kit you’re wearing,” said a wide variety of missions: accident scene assessment, Instructor Trainer Nathan Garrett (NAUI 54694). “This evidence location and collection, and even victim recovery helps you, your team members and even shore support when the need arises. locate equipment quickly or in a no-vis situation.” Divers Public safety diving takes many of its practices and may encounter a different gear configuration when fundamental gear from , but the assigned to a new team, and they should adjust to the activity imposes demands — and carries — that team’s configuration. set it apart from other dive activities. Public safety Many public safety divers also pursue careers as divers don’t have the luxury of picking the location and police officers, firefighters or other types of emergency conditions of their dives. The call may come at any time responders, and they may not have the opportunity to of day, any day, in all types of weather, and in locations practice public safety diving skills as often as they should. that can be murky and treacherous. control and full face mask clearing drills should Public safety diver candidates need to build not only be repeated regularly throughout training, and drills after skills in the diving basics, but also a mastery of safety, training should reinforce these skills. planning and adaptability. NAUI Instructors have Instructors should reinforce hose disconnect and tremendous latitude in course content, so there are always reconnect at both the BC and drysuit inflator — all while opportunities to improve a student’s qualifications. wearing full drysuit gloves. “The conditions that public safety teams dive in are often muddy, swampy and zero REINFORCE THE BASICS visibility,” said Sgt. Patrick R. Foley, Commanding Officer Public safety divers typically rely on enhanced gear of the Massachusetts State Police Underwater Recovery configurations to accomplish their missions. This usually Unit. “Mud and debris can muck up the inflator button, includes a drysuit to allow prolonged operations and to causing it to stick. Being able to calmly disconnect the protect from hazardous environments, a full face hose and deflate the BC is a necessary skill.” mask to allow for communication devices and additional environmental protection, and redundant air sources for ENHANCE CRUCIAL SKILLS greater safety. Although some of this gear may also be Reinforcing the basics is just the start. Instructors can used in other courses, public safety diver instructors will take advantage of countless opportunities to expand the reinforce the basic skills for this gear. skillsets of their students. The use of standardized gear configurations can be Public safety divers can be called anywhere at any

90 SOURCES | FOURTH QUARTER 2017 HEALTHY DIVING TRAINING

BETTER DRILLS AND REINFORCING THE BASICS CAN BENEFIT ENTRY- LEVEL PUBLIC SAFETY DIVE TEAM MEMBERS. Massachusetts State Police divers conduct ice dive training at Walden Pond. time, so a well-trained student should be comfortable depths. He asks students to recover a diver and pass the operating in a wide variety of locations and conditions. recovered diver through the hoops while controlling the Instructors can hold training exercises in rivers (currents), recovered diver’s buoyancy orally. ponds or lakes, or ocean sites, and at nighttime, in low- But few skills are as valuable to a professional public and no-visibility conditions, or with cold water, ice, etc. safety diver as the ability to think, plan, and respond to — whatever the graduate is likely to encounter. Later, mission scenarios that can change unexpectedly. For in-service practice and training in varied locations will example, Foley explained that Massachusetts State Police maintain preparedness. typically requires planning dives to address Some sites are particularly good for skills development: several different mission scenarios: determining the a low-visibility environment for rope and tether line skills, minimum number of divers for the mission, possible or ponds and lakes to develop navigation and search skills. search patterns, safety protocols, witness interview and lift bag handling are two questions, diver methods and so on. When the diver more skills that are always useful for public safety divers. presents the plan, the instructor presents one or more Drills that develop these skills may also be accompanied problems, and the trainee must then adjust the plan to by discussions of proper evidence documentation overcome them. and preservation. This kind of training is well suited to classroom Mastery of shallow-water buoyancy control is a crucial discussion. “During the presentation, we will give them skill for public safety candidates, considering that many problems such as Diver A has a free-flowing AGA mask search-and-recovery missions involve depths shallower — what should you do? If they had a boat in their plan, we than 5 meters (15 feet) with silty bottoms. may say the boat cannot be launched due to depth,” Foley said. “The ultimate decision is with the dive supervisor, but STRESS AND FLEXIBILITY with input from everyone, the best methods to conduct a Instructors who develop top-notch public safety divers mission are usually achieved.” The goal is to get students to will build students’ ability to handle stress, multitask and think more broadly about the mission as a whole, as well adjust to changing mission criteria. as its proper supervision. Low- and no-visibility diving can create significant and stress for any diver. Since a large part of DON’T OVERLOOK THE HUMAN FACTOR public safety diving involves working in extremely limited Finally, instructors should never ignore or overlook the visibility (often with obstructions and entanglement human factor of public safety diving. A dive team will ), students are well served by practicing extensively inevitably be called upon to locate and recover a person. in and for such conditions. Pool sessions can include drills A victim may sometimes be quite young and may exhibit that task students to search for objects using covered significant injury regardless of age. It makes sense to masks. They can also include responding to entanglement discuss divers’ emotional or psychological stress when events triggered by the instructor — events far too finding and handling a victim, as well as available coping dangerous and unpredictable to try in open water, but mechanisms or resources. “I personally was not prepared ideal for practice in a controlled pool environment. for some of this stuff,” Garrett said. “Some of this has made Students can also benefit from drills to handle stress me lose sleep. Divers should get training and support due to or multitasking. Garrett uses a training to ensure that they are ready for the challenges and the drill with a series of hula-hoops submerged at different intense stress involved in looking for a victim.”

SOURCES | FOURTH QUARTER 2017 91