Scuba diving is a subjectively safe recreational activity for healthy people who are adequately trained and educated. Many national organizations offer diving a safety tip to prevent or lessen the danger of similar diving injuries. So, the real question is, what should divers do for their own safety?
Divers need to take precautions to reduce the danger of barotrauma and decompression sickness.
What Should Divers do for their own Safety
Follow the below steps;
- Disorders that have the potential to prevent diving
- Medical disorders that have the possibility of avoiding diving
- Unrepaired groin hernia
- Generalities and security norms
- The Physical Condition of the Diver
- Have an emergency box for first aid
- Load the bottles carefully
- Carry out a hydraulic pressure test every five years
Instructions;
To reduce their danger, divers must compensate for the pressure between the various air spaces inside the face mask.
Avoid holding your breath and breathe generally throughout the ascent, which should not exceed 0.15 m/s and agility, making it easier to release excess nitrogen and empty the air-filled spaces gradually. Many people ask if scuba diving is an extreme sport or not. Check this guide to learn about it.
Make all required safety stops according to the maximum depth and dive time indicated by the dive plan tables or the PC.
Integrate a 3 to 5-minute safety stop at 4.6 m.
They don’t have to fly until 15 to 18 hours after diving.
To reduce other dangers inherent in diving, divers have to take into account and avoid some diving conditions, among others
- Poor visibility
- Currents that require excessive effort
- Low temperatures
- Diving alone
- Recreational and sedative drugs and alcohol
Low temperatures are a particular danger because hypothermia can show up quickly and modify the diver’s reasoning and skill. Hypothermia can also cause heart rhythm abnormalities, probably fatal, in people who are willing. Solo diving is not suggested.
Drugs and sedative medications and alcohol in some amount can have unpredictable or unintended effects at depths and must be avoided altogether. Non-sedating medications rarely interfere with recreational diving.
At this point, it is considered to ask. Did you know 15% of scuba diving fatalities during 2016 happened because of equipment malfunctions? (DAN Annual Diving Report 2018 Edition) Pre-dive safety checks (as buddy checks) are essential for safe driving.
Similarly, it was learned that according to the diving fatality data published in Diving Medicine for Scuba Divers (2015) showed that 90% of them died with their weight belt on, and 50% did not inflate their buoyancy compensator.
Disorders that have the potential to prevent diving
Since diving can involve considerable effort, divers must be aerobically fitter than average and not limited by heart or lung disorders.
In most cases, people with conditions that impair consciousness, alertness, or reasoning, as well as seizures and insulin-treated diabetes, will be prohibited from diving.
Outstanding programs for divers with diabetes have been pre-determined. When in doubt, ask your doctor.
People who experienced the spontaneous collapse of the lung (pneumothorax) do not have to dive.
Although the usual guidelines have suggested that young people under the age of 10 do not have to dive, kid scuba diving programs that begin teaching young people at age eight have been successful.
Most driving instructors are familiar with the guidelines for teaching young people to dive buddy.
Doctors who are experts in scuba diving have to consider the divers’ physical condition to increase the risk of accidents and injuries during the dive.
The scuba dive down flag is also of utmost consideration at this point.
Medical disorders that have the possibility of avoiding diving
- Alcohol or drug abuse
- Chronic or short-term congestion of the nose and sinuses
- Diabetes treated with insulin (usually type 1 and type 2)
- Drugs that have the potential to cause drowsiness
- Fainting spells
- Gastroesophageal reflux if severe
- Recurrent air intake
Pathologies of the heart, such as coronary arterial pathology, heart failure, irregular heart rhythm, valve disorders, and congenital disabilities of the nature that accept blood escaping from the venous system into the arterial network, such as atrial septal defects.
Unrepaired groin hernia
Acting impulsively or being predisposed to accidents
- Pulmonary inconveniences, such as asthma, lung cysts, COPD/emphysema, or a previous pneumothorax (collapsed lung)
- Obesity
- Advanced age
- Pathological panic
- Physical disabilities
- Insufficient cardiovascular fitness
- Pregnancy
- Ruptured eardrum
- Convulsions
- Greater chance of suffering from pulmonary barotrauma
Generalities and security norms
Diving with autonomous equipment brings with it most of the dangers of standard diving procedures.
Also, other dangers are introduced that arise from the restrictions of the set.
Therefore, autonomous equipment’s joyful use invites the uninformed and untrained to expose them to negligible danger.
Moreover, diving with a scuba flag can be reasonably safe if some elementary rules are followed.
The candidate diver must be physically and mentally prepared and aware of the potential dangers and restrictions. He must understand and overcome dangerous occasions and must adequately use the equipment in its flawless condition.
This is done because, according to DAN, 15% of all dive fatalities are equipment related.
They ensure that there is much evidence of the number of accidents caused by human failure. It is between 60% and 80%.
Some particular occasions require numerous rules and cautions. The above considerations can now be considered as simple. Not to follow them, strangely enough, could be justified, except by urgent military necessity.
The Physical Condition of the Diver
Divers must be well prepared, physically, mentally, and psychologically. You will have to carry out the regulatory medical examination, paying particular attention to the cardiovascular and respiratory system, ears, nose, and throat.
The examination before each underwater operation is impracticable, but men must understand the consideration of reporting significant signs and other causes.
A diver must take into account the following:
I am avoiding diving in the presence of respiratory, hearing, or skin pathologies.
- Do not dive with any level of alcohol intoxication or its after-effects.
- Get sufficient rest (at least 8 hours), whenever possible.
- Do not overeat or stop eating before underwater operations.
- Maintain a superior level of training. Engage in regular hardening exercises, such as running, fin swimming, scuba diving, or other water sports.
- To sustain general effectiveness in diving.
- Train for real emergencies.
- To understand the own physical parameters and to have enough capacity to avoid exhaustion.
- Familiarize themselves with the recognition of the signs of decompression illness.
- Understand hand and visual warnings.
- Carry out relaxation and breathing practices.
- Preventive measures in case of an emergency
Where you wish to be paramount due to abnormal conditions, provide yourself with lifelines, descent lines, and complementary weights for the divers, and any other particular set that you want to.
To have, at least, an autonomous reserve set to be used in case of emergency.
Train the whole staff in the procedure of artificial respiration.
Always understand the direction of the nearest decompression chamber and the fastest way to reach it. Whenever possible, plan for quick emergency transport.
The regime with the triumph of the attack of pressure by recompression in the water with autonomous is very complicated and can be unfeasible on some occasions.
Have an emergency box for first aid
Of the total number of accidents, 60-80% are due to human decision-making errors, which points to a path of great caution.
Take precautions in general about autonomous equipment.
The problem with ascending too fast is that the air supply you breathe from the scuba tank is about 78% nitrogen.
Therefore, you must protect the set by handling it with care in its use and transport, stow it properly in dry places, away from high heat.
Stow the regulator separately from the bottles.
Drive the bottles carefully to avoid any inconvenience. Treat the aluminum bottles with particular respect. Remember that a bottle with a broken valve becomes a rocket.
Stow the bottles fully loaded. If the pressure falls below 100 Kg/cm2, reload them and have them ready for an unforeseen dive.
Before loading or changing a bottle to a reducer, subtly open its valves to blow out any dust that may have entered through the open radical.
Load the bottles carefully
The loading connections need careful use to avoid their breakage. A malleable charging connection with escaping high-pressure gas becomes a risky whip.
Hold the bottles away from the high heat. Not to have them loaded under the direct effects of the Sun.
For its transport, without direct supervision, it will be had to lower until 15 Kg/cm2. Of pressure
Carry out a hydraulic pressure test every five years
Compressed air stored over long cycles of time does not show signs of contamination; however, it is advisable to change the attitude periodically.
Avoid corrosion of the metallic parts and slight deterioration of the rubber parts by washing them with fresh water and drying them after use. Hang the regulator from the metal part.
Do not allow water to enter the high air inlet of the regulator, which is achieved by putting a cap on the bracket quickly after removing the bottle’s regulator.
Hold the stopper in place while washing the regulator and only when it is refitted to the bottle.
When washing the regulator, pour fresh water into the mouth many times at low pressure. Make sure that the inhalation tube and the exhaustion tube are adequately watered.
Carry out some occasional inspection of the rubber valves to see if salt deposits prevent closure and generate leaks.
Wash the bottles and connections with fresh water to remove all traces of salt. Place the bottles in their stowage with caution and in a horizontal position.
Disassemble the regulator at least once every six months for your walk.
Use tools with fixed mouth with priority to the adjustable ones.
To have radical precaution in avoiding that oils or other organic materials enter in contact with oxygen to high pressure because there is an enormous risk of explosion or fire.
It is unlikely that you will run out of air if you have a 50 Bar or 500 PSI reserve. You can check this by checking the pressure gauge in your tank.
Best Scuba Diving Equipments for Safety
Though diving is stunning and exciting, it can be risky if you don’t have the right scuba diving gear. It’s significant to settle on the proper sorts of the wetsuit, oxen tank, gloves, and all other relevant equipment’s BCD and mask. Still, you would like to also consider suitable protection for your extremities, with the below essentials. Read this part very carefully and pick one among the below item if you’re a passionate diver.
Just bear in mind that the most severe scuba diving risks come from bad equipment. If you’re taking your very first dive, familiarize yourself with the way the scuba diving equipment functions.
Scuba Tanks
One of the foremost vital sections of your diving equipment is that the scuba tank, which provides you with oxygen while you are in the water. It supplies enormous volumes of air, letting you breathe underwater. Usually made from steel or aluminium, scuba tanks are available various styles and sizes. You’ll either rent them or invest in one if you propose to dive frequently.
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Diving Mask
Full face dive masks are subsequent big objects in diving. Before full-face plunging covers were held for logical and business jumpers, yet these days a developing number of recreational jumpers are doing the change to full-face plunging marks.
A full mask, because the name suggests, maybe a dive mask that covers the whole face. There are a lot of advantages of those diving mask as you’ll ask your dive buddy, the surface boat, and anyone else who is on an equivalent channel. A great bit of leeway to jumpers doing look and recuperation, or the other movement that necessities preferred submerged correspondence over standard hand signs can oversee. The simplest full-face dive masks provide almost a 180-degree field of vision, quite any traditional dive mask.
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Surface Marker Buoy
SMB stands for “Surface Marker Buoy” and maybe a large bright coloured tube that will be magnified either on the surface or underwater and is held by the diver on a string. It is often seen from a far greater distance than little diver on the surface. Just in case of huge waves, it’ll, in most instances, reach beyond the waves and permit you to be spotted easily.
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Scuba Horn
Motioning with sound may be the right way of creating contact, exclusively if the weather makes the visibility low. It will be skilled with a horn connected to the “low-pressure inflator hose” that’s usually wont to make contact underwater. Else an easy whistle is often utilized in the surface. It’s small, and therefore the cost of it’s limited.
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Scuba Light
Light at all-time benefits when talking about being seen or found. There are numerous categories of lights, like LED sticks, strobes for the BCD strap, or dive lights. Customarily you don’t drive around with a large dive torch, so it’s a realistic idea to possess a little LED stick or a strobe attached to the BCD just in case.
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Diving Knife
A good diving knife may be a vital instrument to cut yourself loose from imbroglio, to free trapped animals, to clear the wreckage, and support in underwater diving. In several countries, a dive knife may be a compulsory security piece of equipment all divers must have with them. When purchasing your dive knife, you would like to seek out one which matches your sort of diving. It is flexible to satisfy your needs, easily attaches to your apparatus, and most significantly is going to be immune to salt rust.
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Scuba Regulator
Not ever overlook the regulator, as this is what permits you to breathe underwater. The regulator includes a section considered the essential stage that associates with your scuba tank and moves air from the container once you breathe in. There’s also a neighbourhood called the second stage, which is what you set in your mouth to breathe. When picking your diving regulator, at all times, select the one that provides you with the most uncomplicated comfort and performance.
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Dive Compass
As the name designates, a complexity device stipulates the present and maximum depth reached during a dive. Your SPG similarly will show what proportion of remaining air you’ve got in your scuba tank. It is frequently to make sure you’ll end your dive before your air supply gets too low. A compass is another dynamic piece of skin diving gear that supports you to circumnavigate underwater. All of those devices are accessible in both digital and analog form, which you’ll choose counting on your preference. I recommend the below one. It is the most reviewed one by the customers. You can pick the below one for further details on the best dive computer check our full guide here.
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Scuba Diving Gloves
If you decide to scuba diving in warm or cold waters, the gloves are going to be a crucial part of your diving apparatus, evading the loss of warmth and enlightening the tightness of the suit at the peak of the wrists.
Also, albeit you go diving in warm waters, gloves play an additional energetic role: they protect your hands against cuts, holes, and other sorts of skin scratch. Because of this, you’ll get anywhere if essential (for example, just in case of current) and keep your hands safe from war wounds.
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Scuba Suit
A scuba suit retains you warmly submerged, and it additionally shields you from the sun, cuts, scratches, and wounds. Entirely significant, isn’t that so? A legit quality suit is an interest in both your solace and wellbeing while at the same time plunging.
The most remunerating part about having your wetsuit is you’ll never need to influence the torment of these horrible pee scented rental suits until kingdom come. If that doesn’t get you excited about purchasing a wetsuit, I don’t have the foggiest idea what will!
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What Should Divers Do for their Own Safety: FAQ
What is the primary safety rule for diving?
The most relevant rule for diving is feet first, first chance. Avoid immersion as soon as you enter the water. It is recommended that you enter first with your feet and then make the immersion gradually.
When should you make a safety stop diving?
When you have finished your dive, find a safe place to rest. We recommend that you pause at about 15 feet and stay there for three to five minutes.
Then you can go to the surface. Experts recommend making these stops, so take that into account.
What are the dangers of diving?
Diving is a particular danger. Not to scare you, but these dangers include decompression sickness (DCS, the “bends”), arterial air embolism, and, of course, drowning. Also, there are effects of diving, such as nitrogen narcosis, which can help the cause of these problems.
Conclusion
Diving is a very vigorous activity. It can be something familiar or an activity to do with friends and examine marine life. However, it is something you have to be very careful about. Some mistakes can cause a disaster. You will have to measure how fit you are for diving because not everyone has the same aptitude. For example, open water divers can dive to a maximum of 18m/60ft (according to most dive agencies).
Safe scuba diving means following all the safety rules set for it. Get your proper scuba gear, and start the adventure.
