Safety Culture - diving in the zone
Images
“Thank [beep] for that! How lucky were we? We better not do that again.
Don’t tell anyone though, we don’t want to look like amateurs...”
Safety Culture
Neurological DCS for Divers
Whether you have the skills and training to care for a diver yourself or you want to be prepared to help until a more experienced caregiver is available, learn the basics of assessing post-dive symptoms.
Articles like this one are no replacement for training, but they are a good way to refresh or build your awareness of the importance of emergency-response skills.
- Read more about Neurological DCS for Divers
- Log in to post comments
Avoiding Bad Gas - Tips for Preventing Breathing-Gas Contamination
Sources of contamination include hydrocarbons from compressor lubricants, carbon monoxide (CO) from engine exhaust (or overheated compressor oil) and impurities from the surrounding environment such as methane and carbon dioxide (CO2). Dust particles in breathing gas can also be hazardous, potentially impairing respiratory function or damaging diving equipment. Excessive moisture can cause corrosion in scuba cylinders and other dive gear and may cause regulators to freeze due to adiabatic cooling (heat loss following increased gas volume).
Look After Your People
Images
Simon Pridmore
In the book Into Thin Air, journalist Jon Krakauer tells the story of five people who died near the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. Two were expedition leaders, one was a professional guide and two were their clients.
Teamwork
If you dive within a team, discuss the characteristics of a high-performing cohesive team described in this article with fellow divers.
There may not be an "I" in team, but there's one in "win", "live", "first" and "dive"!
Rebreather Checklists!
Throughout Rebreather Forum 3 experts from all fields - manufacturing, human interface design, accident analysis, rebreather training and diving - all advocated the use of checklists. The benefits of using this tool were highlighted to ensure that units are correctly built and pre-dive checks completed.
- Read more about Rebreather Checklists!
- Log in to post comments
Just Culture
Images
Debriefing allows lessons to be learned—successes and failures. Photo by Gareth Lock.
A diver had an oxygen toxicity seizure because an incorrect gas was filled in a cylinder by a dive centre. A baby died because the wrong dose of medication was injected. Who is to blame for the error and how do we try to make sure that these types of incidents aren’t repeated?
Checklists - a tick in the box
Images
At the Rebreather Forum 3 conference held in Florida in May 2012, a number of presentations were made which advocated the use of checklists as a means to prevent diving incidents from occurring, or at least reducing the likelihood of occurrence.
Safety Culture: What is it and do I have it?
In August 2012, I wrote an article which discussed just culture and what this meant in the context of recreational and technical scuba diving, and using this concept, how we can improve diving safety.
Why you should never go diving with an idiot
Images
Steve Lewis
Being swept along on this technical diving thing, has been a long, somewhat twisted, but definitely entertaining journey. If you and I had met when the whole affair started, we could not possibly have envisioned how directly and pervasively, what were then radical activities, like cave diving, trimix diving and rebreather diving, would influence the mainstream dive community.
Breaking the Chain
Images
Last year I was invited to deliver a lecture at the Oztek show in Sydney, Australia. I spoke on the topic “What Makes a Good Technical Diver”, and one particular point I covered on accident avoidance drew a very positive response and provoked a number of questions from the audience.