PSDiver Monthly Issue 81 DIVE TEAM FOOTBALL Response Team. Because there is such a diversity of water conditions, environments, equipment, and training, it would We have discussed this topic before and written about it be very hard to change generalizations to absolutes. There is extensively. I am a strong believer in the need for standards one common thread the Public Safety Divers share. They are and give you this as a reminder of the need for written all divers. In SCUBA, there are still a lot of generalizations operational guidelines. but there does exist a basis for at least two absolutes. #1: NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH. #2: ALWAYS BE AT THE TOP When we consider how a football game is played, we can OF THE FOOD CHAIN. Simply put, “Don’t die and don’t get relate each part of the game to Public Safety Diving. The eaten up by administrative policies that overshadow the team is easy. The team is the team. In a football game, the former. Quarterback calls the plays and is responsible for the team actions on the field. Our Quarterback is our Dive Officer. The How can we establish, gauge and maintain performance team and the Quarterback get their information and levels for each aspect of a Water Response Team? What logistical support from the Coach. The Coach is our Dive training programs will help our Public Safety Divers comply Team Supervisor or Coordinator. The owner of the Team with our two absolutes? And if the unforeseen happens, makes sure the Coach has what is needed for him to do his what type of training and record keeping will help place our job and in general provides support for the Coach. The department in a better, more legally defensible position by owner is also obliged to keep expenses within budget and substantiating our actions as being reasonable and prudent activities of the team within reason. The owner is our if and when a lawsuit strikes? Department Head or Chief. But the owner is answerable to a group of investors who must be continually updated of all Standard Operating Procedures or Guidelines have been the aspects of the team. Those are our City Council and tax mainstay for organizations since the creation of payers. Of course, the team is worthless without fans. We organizations. We tend to forget that they are living don’t have fans, we have victims. Without them, we really documents and need to be “fed” every once in a while. When are not needed. While this appears to be a pretty complete was the last time your SOPs / SOGs were reviewed by your list of participants, we are missing The Armchair team? When was the last time they were revised? Quarterback. He is the one who will second guess you about everything. Let’s call them the Press. WHAT IS IN YOUR PLAYBOOK? Like a football team, we need a play book. Without a written Check www.PSDiver.com for SOP assistance and examples. idea to train, respond, and equip ourselves and to perform the job, each and every “game” will be a haphazard attempt Stay Safe, If you would like to to make things work safely, efficiently and effectively. Mark Phillips discuss this topic or any Editor / Publisher other, join our When we refer to Public Safety Divers, we tend to generalize PSDiver Monthly discussion group at: a large group of people who perform as part of a Water CLICK HERE TO JOIN PSDiver Monthly Issue 82 2 1910.120), as the OSHA scientific diving exemption for example does not exempt scientific or other divers from SPECIAL to PSDiver Monthly employing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other preventative exposure measures and monitoring, Public Safety Diver – EPA Polluted Water including medical monitoring for chemical exposure. However, as previously discussed, EPA's experience is Diving that divers in Portland Harbor involved in Module 4 (Part 3 of 3) sampling/analysis do not always dive in compliance with the OSHA standards and/or do not initially propose dive Module 4. Medical Monitoring and plans in compliance with hazardous waste site operation Immunizat Site Date Specific Exposure Level of PPE Symptoms (HAZWOPER) Chemical Level from standards ions and Exposure (USEPA Physical 2009b). The Whether diving Factors reason for this under the 1.Quendall Terminals, May 2009 PAHs Minimal Level B None is that the OSHA Lake Washington divers’ typically commercial Superfund Site do not believe Sampling diving the dive site to 2. Duwamish River July 2009 PAHs, Minimal Level B None standards, be public safety Superfund Site metals, Sampling PCBs, contaminated standards, or dioxins and/or do not OSHA scientific 3.Sinclair Inlet, Puget February None None Level B None track their diving Sound scuttled vessel 2009 known contaminated exemption, hazmat survey site exposures divers should 4. Ocean dredge September None None Recreational None against the 30 be working material disposal 2009 known SCUBA day exposure under survey, Brookings, OR OSHA exposure conditions that 5.Lake Pierre, WA October H2S Gas Level B None monitoring instrument recovery 2009 could be are in requirement. smelled compliance Typically, items with OSHA through mask. such as basic standards (29 Figure 11: Excerpt from an exposure history form filled out for fiscal year 2009 for diver CFR an EPA Region 10 diver. environmental PSDiver Monthly Issue 82 3 isolation/(PPE) and Vaccinations for medical monitoring various disease vectors (1910.120 are also provided at HAZWOPER items) EPA hazmat dive units, are not proposed in such as hepatitis A/B, the Health and diphtheria, and Safety Plan at tetanus (USEPA, Superfund Sites, 2001). Symptoms of where EPA has chemical or biological purview over site exposure are health and safety. It encouraged to be is a reasonable reported immediately, presumption that such that the diver can divers doing similar obtain treatment and work not under EPA use of PPE can be oversight may not evaluated for future be equipping their diving, if one particular Figure 13:, Diver undergoing divers, training their dive site can be medical monitoring, including divers, or localized as the causal analyzing blood work for signs monitoring their factor. of chemical exposure. Figure 12: Region 10 Diver, divers for hazardous Rob Pedersen, answering waste exposure per exposure history questions on Conclusion and Discussion OSHA 29 CFR dives he made in the past 1910.120. year. Photos used with No one approach will eliminate all diver exposures other permission of patient. Photos than not diving at all. Consideration of non diving Primarily due to the by Sean Sheldrake, EPA techniques is always a good start to a dive operation dive program’s Region 10 Dive Team. where time, budget, and other logistics allows, such as mission relative to environmental protection, use of boat based, or unmanned sampling techniques necessitating sampling activities at polluted sites, EPA’s rather than diver based techniques. For example, an ROV standard is to inventory dive exposures for the past year can be useful in surveying a site viewed as too polluted to and adjust blood tests based on the chemical exposures dive and/or used to look for overt signs of contamination reported (See Figure 11 below). prior to diving, such as labels on leaking drums, so long as tenders are adequately protected. PSDiver Monthly Issue 82 4 2. Provision of training to all divers in their respective Heat stress continues dive programs in polluted water recognition, to be viewed by many planning, PPE, decontamination, and exposure as an overarching, if monitoring regardless of mission. The importance not overriding of this is just as high for an entity that does not concern with respect intend to do polluted water dives, as it is for an to polluted water by agency who has a stated intention is to do polluted most. Tunnel vision water diving, like EPA. How is a dive master to for many dive units otherwise appreciate when to dive or not? that focuses primarily 3. Adaptation and broader adoption of USN/EPA on heat stress occurs polluted water PPE standards, or similar. For despite the fact that Figure 14: EPA Region 10’s ROV example, improvement of the level of in the case of being used to survey a protectiveness of Navy category 3 diver dress and carcinogens, there is manufactured gas plant site. Photo by Sean Sheldrake, EPA broader application of category 3 by the broader no way to evaluate Region 10 Dive Team dive community for unknown, but suspect dive site “success” in the conditions could mitigate long term exposure to approach to polluted water for decades. In many cases in sites we know are growing more contaminated by the dive community, personal protective equipment the day. upgrades are viewed as overprotective given the inherent tradeoff in heat stress, despite available mitigation for 4. Use and improvements to standard such stress. Medical monitoring generally focuses on only decontamination protocols by EPA and USN and obvious signs or symptoms or simply physical fitness to development of decontamination protocols for dive, rather than making an attempt to run tests to detect other entities is an ongoing need. more subtle signs of chemical exposure. Many dive 5. Development of an exposure monitoring program entities could focus more on the following with respect to for those entities conducting mission oriented dives polluted water: in polluted water and contingency protocols for those inadvertently conducting polluted water 1. Development of an explicit set of dive planning dives. tools to use as a checklist when planning a dive 6. Development of reporting processes to evaluate including items such as internet based resources individual dive master decision making with respect for real-time dive planning and personnel to to the level of pollution at dive sites, such that contact with polluted water diving expertise for feedback is given on the PPE used if under (or specific questions; over) protective.