Safety Culture - diving in the zone
“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...”
Technical Diving & Training
Renowned diving physiologist Dr Neal W Pollock filmed a EUROTEK TEKTalk where he discussed the foundations of decompression physiology, M Values and what Gradient Factors are.
Pollock is the Research Director at Divers Alert Network (DAN) and a Research Associate at the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, Duke University Medical Center. Both positions are based in Durham, North Carolina.
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.
It is a significant find that will aid in the understanding of commerce and trade routes in the ancient world, around 218-210 B.C.
Jarrod Jablonski, president of GUE, said the find was a “remarkable piece of history”, exhibiting intricate wave patterns and Greek letters inscribed into its surface. Sixteen other unique artifacts were recovered by GUE technical divers working closely with submersibles from Brownie’s Global Logistics. The Sicilian government will study and preserve these artifacts.
Associate Professor Simon Mitchell had a busy EUROTEK. He gave two keynote presentations, was the guest after dinner speaker at the Gala Dinner, and won a EUROTEK award.
Diving is risky business. Just how risky depends on a whole shopping list of factors and influences, but let’s agree that there are more risks involved with diving than, say, sitting in your basement watching Olympic curling on TV.
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?
Imagine scuba diving is a brand new sport. You hear about it for the first time when one of your friends tells you about a scuba experience she had recently on holiday and you think this sounds incredibly exciting. After thinking about it for a long time, you decide you want to learn. You take lessons to improve your swimming and then you look online for a dive instructor. There are no dive centres in your town.
Anna’s story: “I was on my eighth or ninth dive, about five minutes in and at a depth of around 13 metres when I realized that my air was not coming out smoothly. I couldn’t think why this should be. I had checked my pressure gauge on descent and it had shown 190 bar. I switched to my octopus, but there was no difference. Soon the air became very thin.
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.