COLUMNS

Learning From Public Safety Divers By Divers Alert Network Training Department

ublic safety diving is physically, mentally and control, are especially critical for public safety divers. emotionally challenging for the divers who take When divers are dispatched to fast-moving water or to Pit upon themselves to serve their communities. dive under ice, their ability to manage their air becomes While recreational divers have a broad range of risks to a matter of life and death. Prospective public safety divers manage, public safety diver (PSD) teams must contend must work to make fundamental diving skills second not only with the risks inherent in , but also nature before receiving formal training and becoming part with pressing the application of scuba to its extreme of a PSD team. Their safety and the safety of those around limits. Challenging missions, dangerous conditions and them depend on this dedicated, high level of commitment. emotionally charged situations are the wheelhouse of As dive professionals, many of us likely have these skills well-prepared PSD teams. Their duties cover a wide ingrained in us already, but practice is required to keep variety of diving locations, responsibilities and activities. them refined and functional in emergency situations. You PSD teams are called to victim recoveries, bomb disposals, may not need help with your gas planning or , crime scene investigations, port security actions and more but when was the last time you took a realistic inventory every year — often without warning. Keeping these divers of your limits as a diver — and as an instructor? safe requires oversight, training and management of both diving- and mission-related . Learn how they keep Practicing Safety themselves safe and what you can do to keep yourself, your Just like skills, safety can be practiced. Whether it students and your staff safe. is addressed through training, implementation or continuing education, practicing safety is a core concept Mastering Fundamental Skills in PSD team management. Because of the risks that PSD Core concepts in diving, like air management, respecting teams face with little or no warning, they must work to your personal limitations, and depth and buoyancy anticipate and address every reasonable before

40 SOURCES | FOURTH QUARTER 2017 DIVERS ALERT NETWORK COLUMNS

they are called to a scene. Creating a culture of safety that extends beyond minimizes the risk that the whole team shoulders and increases the team’s ability to manage unexpected events. This culture of dive safety is applicable to you and the organizations with which you are involved. Managing risks like equipment failure, direction. PSD teams rely on hundreds or thousands dive injuries and health issues can and should be a part of hours of collective experience and training to of your organization’s emergency action and training mitigate their risks in challenging situations. Practicing plans. You and your colleagues should have a preplanned a variety of dives, handling realistic injured divers course of action for every emergency you can face, as and emergency situations, and running unannounced well as an actionable plan to prevent that emergency drills are good ways to gauge PSD team preparedness from occurring in the first place. have been and train for potential emergencies. These same proven to enhance safety, and their use in public safety drills can be used with your students, customers and diving, as well as formal emergency-response algorithms, co-workers. Practicing the rescue of an out-of-control is critical to improving safety, procedural uniformity and diver, both unconscious and conscious, in a variety of overall teamwork. realistic equipment configurations and in simulated hostile environments is a valuable way to prepare for Training Like It Matters emergencies. With the wide variety of recreational It is easy to become complacent in training, and while configurations in use today, it is easy to waste precious any training is better than none, there is a world of seconds figuring out how to effectively remove difference between the effectiveness of dedicated equipment while assisting a diver in need. training and training that occurs without focus or For more information on safe diving practices, visit dan.org.

SOURCES | FOURTH QUARTER 2017 41