Diving Safety Procedures

Before the Dive

Diving safety begins with a series of equipment checks and personal evaluations made before even boarding the dive boat or strapping on the gear and getting into the ocean from the beach. After attaching the buoyancy control device (BCD) and regulator to the air tank, a diver should check to make sure the BCD inflator, at least one of the BCD's release valves, and both mouthpieces work. A few breaths of air need to be taken through a mouthpiece to check the air quality inside the tank, as even remotely suspect air should be rejected immediately. Also the air tank gauge needs to be checked to ensure the diver is going down with a full tank. After that, the diver should close the valve on their air tank to prevent an accident from unknowingly releasing air from the tank.

The second half of pre-dive safety precautions involves the diver evaluating both himself and the group he is diving with. First, a diver should never dive if they have the sort of congestion that blocks the sinuses, as this inhibits pressure equalization at depth and will lead to barotrauma, or a pressure injury in the ear. Second, traveling divers are often paired with a stranger to serve as a dive buddy, so talking to and evaluating the new buddy is an important safety step. Divers rely on their buddies to rescue them from trouble and visa versa. Diving with an incompetent or risk-taking dive buddy poses almost as much hazard to the safer diver as it does to the dangerous dive buddy.

During the Dive

All equipment needs to be checked again before getting into the water, to make sure the diver remembered to re-open his air tank valve if nothing else. To warn boats of the presence of divers in the water, a float marker is deployed by shore divers and a marker flag by dive boats. For boat dives, the diver enters the water with their BCD inflated to prevent rapid and immediate descent, and one hand on their dive mask and the other on their weight belt to avoid losing these two pieces of equipment upon hitting the water. Once underwater, there are three fundamental safety procedures a diver must follow. First, a diver must never hold their breath, a sudden ascent and consequent change in pressure would cause that captured air to expand in the lungs and either injure or kill the diver. Second, a diver should never work too hard underwater, as a carbon dioxide build-up in the mouthpiece can lead to unconsciousness and drowning. Third, a diver should always stay within his limits and avoid things like cave or wreck penetrations for which he has no specialized equipment or training. Finally, divers need to regularly check their surroundings, their depth gauge and their air tank gauge.

After the Dive

Post-dive safety consists of getting safely back aboard the boat, following by basic maintenance of a diver's equipment to ensure it is in good working order for the next dive. If the diver is boarding the boat over the side, as is often the case for inflatable rafts, the only procedure is taking the weight belt off before any other article of gear, and handing it to the man aboard the boat by the open end (the end without the clasp or buckle). This ensures that the diver does not struggle against losing the extra buoyancy of the BCD, as well as making sure no weights fall off the belt during the hand-off. If the diver is boarding by means of a ladder, the diver needs to take off their fins and hand them over as well.

Once back on dry land, every piece of diving equipment needs to be rinsed off with freshwater to ensure against salt corrosion. The o-rings on air tanks require regular visual inspection against wear and cracking, and the scuba regulator requires annual certification to ensure it is in good working order.