To learn more about ERDI™, including the eLearning modules available, please visit www.tdisdi.com or call 207.729.4201

To learn more about the DUI events please visit www.DUIDiveOps.com.

Here is a schedule of events available at this publishing

• May 18 – Bethlehem, PA – Dutch Springs
• Aug 10 – Mukilteo, WA – Lighthouse Park
• Sept 7 – Ottawa, OH – Gilboa Quarry
• Sept 21 – Metropolis, IL – Mermet Springs
• Oct 19 – Rawlings, VA – Lake Rawlings
• Nov 2 – Chiefland, FL – Manatee Springs
• Nov 9 – Terrell, TX – Clear Springs Scuba Park

Contact ERDI

If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

ERDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyDiving

He got the biggest laugh of the morning, but his point was well taken: when we think about fitness to work in the varied environments, and under the stress levels common in the realm of PSD, we have to access ALL aspects of dive readiness. Forgetting one of the key elements that makes a well-rounded team and “fit for service” team members is a potential time-bomb for everyone involved and the communities being served.

Let’s deal with the physical aspects first.

It should be obvious to everyone involved in any aspects of Public Safety Diving that a higher than average level of physical fitness is required. But where is the bar set? What’s adequate and what’s unacceptable? For a team leader, these are critically important questions; but team members must also ask themselves these questions. As a PSD team member, you owe it to yourself and your teammates to know that you are physically ready to meet the demands of the job. Without a specific benchmark to compare one’s performance to, how is it possible to know the answer?

Outside the published ERDI standards for diver testing and prerequisites, the dive agency does not make any hard and fast recommendations about cardio, stamina, strength, and flexibility. Various departments and PSD teams usually have existing guidelines and, in general, these seem to serve adequately. However, internally – and when asked for specifics, for example by a team leader putting together a new PSD group – we default to the published fitness guidelines for the US Marshal Service.

One of the advantages of these guidelines is that they cover physical fitness guidelines for men and women, and from young recruits fresh out of the academy to veterans close to retirement age. They also have values for cardio-vascular stamina, strength, AND flexibility. There are several other tests and benchmarks which may also be followed, but you’ll find the US Marshal guidelines at:
http://www.usmarshals.gov/careers/fitness_men.html
http://www.usmarshals.gov/careers/fitness_women.html

Mental preparation is not as simple or straightforward to gauge, but still vitally important to consider and work at, since the stress of going from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye, has strong effects on both body and mind.

Few departments have the resources to invest in psychological testing or to administer personality and behavioral testing for its PSD teams. Therefore, for most PSD team members, the mental aspect of prep and fitness is almost entirely self-policed. As such, before a stressful operation – and surely that describes most PSD events – one has to ask: “Am I focused, rested, confident and honestly ready to manage the mental tax associated with this dive?”

We recognize today the potential existence and role played in ongoing mental health by both Acute Stress Response (ASR) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the type of work typically taken on by rescue and recovery teams. While critical counseling is sometimes available in larger organizations, this support is seldom offered to volunteer teams. Sometimes all that is available in these cases are strategies for prevention.

The most effective and simplest method is pre and post-event debriefing. Sure it would be helpful to have professional guidance and counseling; but ANY form of open and supportive debate can help and should NEVER be discounted. In fact, a thorough and detailed briefing AND debriefing should be part of every PSD team’s protocol for EVERY call. This gives the whole team – divers, surface support, admin staff and so on – a chance to go over tactics before the dive, and to share and learn what worked and what can be improved afterwards.

Perhaps one of the factors with the most influence on a PSD team’s mental fitness is TRAINING. Part of the function of training is to ensure that every member of the team understands their responsibilities and role before, during and upon completion of PSD team operations. Knowing that everyone has an overview of your job, and what you are being called on to do, can have a tremendously positive effect on everyone… from the lead diver and line tender to the person answering the phone back at the station.

While the exact mix of physical and mental fitness may be up for debate – does 40:80 sounds about right? – there is no doubt that being prepared to perform effectively and efficiently demands an open mind and a thoroughly professional approach that can only be achieved through hard work and a supportive team structure. For more on these topics, please contact ERDI.

Contact ERDI

If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

ERDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyDiving

The responsibilities of a Public Safety Dive (PSD) team supervisor will depend a great deal on the size and the history of the team. In some operations, the typical job description might run several pages, but the focus must remain on core items that relate to, and directly influence, team safety and effectiveness, while balancing operational compliance with budgets and efficiencies.

For the record, here is a list of items recently submitted by ERDI members when asked what’s important to YOUR PSD team.

Training: Training should be open to all team members – support staff as well as dive staff. It should be ongoing and structured to cover all levels of operations. A training calendar should be posted both online and on your bulletin board and updated regularly. Create and implement a professional development/training schedule that all team members can refer to and follow. Give your team personal goals.

Make training appropriate: Train for the conditions that you will encounter in your jurisdiction. This includes Ops level training in rapid water, ice, contaminated water and so on. Include training in the use and deployment of the appropriate gear for the tasks your team may be called on to complete. For example, diving in HAZMAT conditions cannot be safely conducted in anything BUT the correct gear, which includes special drysuits and full-face masks… not wetsuits and recreational scuba gear.

Prepare for the unexpected: Train and equip your team for conditions that are out of the ordinary. For instance, flooding and other natural disasters. Draw up protocols for these kinds of events and review response procedures on a regular basis.

Will you say NO? As a PSD team supervisor, are you prepared to say no to a request for a dive operation? In other words, when the risk/benefit analysis indicates that your team is not trained or not equipped to safely conduct an operation, are you able to explain why they cannot dive?

Drill the basics: Run regular clinics and refreshers to maintain basic skills and working knowledge among ALL PSD team members. Fundamental skills quickly decay when not used. Put all PSD team members on a regular schedule that will ensure they maintain a readiness to perform.

Maintain team dynamics: Build team spirit and work on maintaining it. As well as regular team briefings, debriefings, and feedback sessions, plan social “out of uniform” events as a morale and team building strategy.

Cross-training may help efficiencies: Encourage team members to cross-train for “other” responsibilities. For example, have public safety divers perform public safety information duties. This may be a benefit for them, but certainly has the potential to bring first-hand, front-line experiences to the general public. A supervisor’s role should also include drawing up a plan for succession. Encourage mentorship of junior team members by more experienced peers.

As a team super, you may be called on to do much more than those jobs that relate directly to the work of serving our community – fund-raising, speaking at local service clubs and schools, attending tradeshows – but never lose sight of the core function of keeping your team ready to perform difficult, and sometimes thankless, tasks.

Contact ERDI

If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

ERDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyDiving

FDIC saw both exhibitors and consumers from all over the globe, and public safety diving was, again, a hot topic.

Standardized training seemed to be one of the focal points for several team leaders looking for training involving their dive teams. Palmero added, “I was impressed with the interest team leaders had in finding a diving agency that could provide a thorough program for their teams.” Palmero also stated, “Many realize that it helps when various different teams that are on the scene together are not only using the same equipment, but are also speaking the same language as far as training goes.”

However, many teams also saw the benefit in ERDI being an affordable solution to top quality training, with sensible membership fees and dues. “People are not too happy having to pay renewal fees at the diver level in order to keep their PSD rating current. Budgets for departments are tight as it is, and we heard this as being a great concern for the teams that were currently training under other programs.”

If you are looking to increase the education and safety of your dive team, you should consider what ERDI has to offer your organization.

ERDI is currently a leader in public safety dive training, with numerous courses and special ops offered to their membership. This includes a growing number of dive courses that are available online, such as ERDI Diver I, ERDI Contaminated Water and ERDI Tender. All ERDI programs are OSHA and NFPA compliant.

Contact ERDI

If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

ERDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyDiving

Dry suits tend to be looked upon as a protective tool against cold. They offer thermal protection and are used by the recreational and PSD diving communities for that reason.

Recreational divers using dry suits typically dive in cold water environments up to and including ice conditions. As a practice and objective of diving, they almost always stay within the borders in the water column. Public Safety Divers as a rule, do not.

Public Safety Divers are in the water to locate something. If that something was floating, we would not need divers. Public Safety Divers tend to dive ON the bottom, not within the water column. On the bottom is sediment.

Sediment is naturally occurring and consists of a variety of most everything that water touches or is touched by water. It is material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of water. Thus, it includes chemicals, minerals and metals that are not water soluble and have a specific gravity greater than water sink and come to rest in sediment.

Petroleum products are not water soluble. Dioxins are much heavier than water and not water-soluble. Agent Orange is not water soluble. Minerals and metals are heavier than water and are not water soluble. Mercury sinks. Chlorobenzenes are not water soluble and the amount of chlorobenzene in sediment may be 1000 times higher than that of the surrounding water. Which would you want to rub into unprotected?

It does not matter what chemical, mineral or metal we name as a contaminate. If it is in the sediment, it is where PSDs dive. If ANY of those chemicals were spilled on dry land, is there ANY Emergency First Response Department that would allow ANY of their employees to mitigate the hazard WITHOUT PROPER PPE?

If your dive team is using dry suits for thermal protection only, or your team does not see the need for dry suits, then you are lacking the proper awareness of PPE for the job. This would be the equivalent of a Haz-Mat team responding to a chemical spill and dressing in jeans and t-shirts. You probably ask for Dry Suits in your budget requests instead of PPE gear for your divers.

We concern ourselves with contaminated water and never consider that the work and diving that we do is not in the water, but rather in the sediment layer under the water. Until we recognize the potential hazards and likely exposures to ourselves and our dive team members, we are accepting the ridiculous idea that firefighters do not need bunker gear, police officers do not need Kevlar vests and paramedics do not need latex gloves.

Dry Suits = Personal Protective Equipment. It is time for us to accept that and work towards better protecting ourselves and our dive teams.

About the Author

Mark Phillips

Mark is a 32 year career firefighter and has been an active diver since 1979. Mark holds instructor credentials from 5 scuba agencies and specializes in Underwater Crime Scene Investigation. He has taught from Hawaii to North Carolina and been a consultant for numerous organizations, institutions and manufacturers in the field of Public Safety Diving. He is the author of PSDiver – A Textbook for Public Safety Diving and the Editor / Publisher of the free E-Zine, PSDiver Monthly. He is also a member of International Training’s Training Advisory Panel.

Contact ERDI

If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

ERDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyDiving

For the first time in the history of the scuba diving industry, ANDI, IANTD, and TDI came to an agreement to work together in releasing the total number of divers certified on rebreathers at RF3. Never before has the industry known just how big the CCR (Closed Circuit Rebreather) market is and this data will do just that.

“There is a lot of speculation out there about just how many people learn to dive on CCR’s. With over 20 years of data collectively to provide the industry, I am really glad to participate with Ed Betts, Tom Mount, and Joe Dituri in releasing our certification numbers,” stated Brian Carney, President of TDI.

“The rebreather industry is fickle and I laud the other big rebreather certification agencies for getting together and setting the record straight. I have never been more excited to be part of this growing culture. Our cooperation is a win for the diving public,” stated Joseph Dituri, Vice President of IANTD.

“Our corroboration will hopefully provide some clarity and result in a stronger, safer industry for all of us,” said Ed Betts, President of ANDI. “Rebreather Forum 3 should be about improving understanding and safety, and safety should not be a competitive issue.”

Due to the fact that the three companies have slightly different ways of classifying rebreather certifications, the numbers will be broken out as Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced certifications by year. Basic qualifications will include any entry level program to CCR’s and SCR’s (Semi-Closed Rebreather). Intermediate qualifications will include any training that includes minimal decompression, and finally Advanced qualifications will include Trimix, and exploratory qualifications. The companies will also be showing the difference between SCR and CCR certifications.

This information will be released after the event for anyone who will not be able to attend.

For more information about these three pioneering rebreather companies go to:
www.Andihq.com
www.iantd.com
www.tdisdi.com

Bring your scuba gear and learn from these two tech giants as they collaborate to bring you their underwater world and give you the opportunity to dive with advanced Dive Rite equipment and speak with seasoned technical divers from TDI.

Divers can experience the complete line of Dive Rite gear including TransPacs, Transplates, wings, Dive Rite regulators, Nomad Side Mount Rig, 905 Drysuit and LED/HID lights. Learn best practices with this gear to ensure you have a fun and safe dive.

New product and O2ptima clinics throughout the day. Open to all certified divers… come see what advanced diving gear can do for you!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday and Sunday

9am ‐ 4pm GEAR DEMOS: Available all day long.
Dive Rite staff is on hand to help you with sizing and selection based on your dive needs. TDI staff is on hand to answer training questions and assist divers in determining the next steps in their diving career.

Please bring your own weights, tanks, mask, fins and exposure protection.

Clinics run continuously

OW Side Mount Clinic
Lights: LED vs. HID technology
Regulators: Regulators designed for advanced diving
Accessories: New line of harness accessories

O2ptima Rebreather Clinic*

4pm CLOSE OF DAY

EVENT LOCATIONS AND DATES

Haigh Quarry, Kankakee, IL – June 9th & 10th 2012
2738 E 2000 North Road, Kankakee, IL 60901, Phone: 815-939-7797

Dutch Springs, Bethlehem, PA – June 16th & 17th 2012
4733 Hanoverville Road, Bethlehem, PA 18020, Phone: 610-759-2270

*A prior briefing is mandatory for divers who plan to demo the O2ptima in-water. Briefing is at the beginning of each session. O2ptima demo divers must be Nitrox certified. Divers will experience the O2ptima on a shallow dive with an instructor. $25 cash payment is due at registration. Two sessions 9-12 and 1pm till close. Space is limited.

For more information please contact TDI:
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TechnicalDivingInt

TDI, in conjunction with staff from Poseidon, will conduct an instructor crossover course for current CCR instructors on May 23rd and 24th at our Corporate Headquarters in Jensen Beach, Florida. This is the perfect opportunity to meet HQ staff, Poseidon staff and network with CCR instructors and the manufacturer. This immediately follows RBF3, so the timing is perfect!

The course fee of $195 includes:

• Registration and certification fees
• Materials
• Use of CCR during the course, including Sorb and gas
• Weights

Course requirements

• Diver certification on the Discovery
• 10 hours of dive time on the Discovery (hours can be logged after the orientation)

Participants would need to provide their own:

• Thermal protection for 75° F/23° C water
• Mask and Fins

Instructors will be qualified to train divers on the Poseidon MK VI upon completion of the course.*

This is an opportunity not to be missed! Space is limited, so we recommend contacting TDI Headquarters today to reserve your space. Call us at 888-778-9073. Outside North America call +1 207-729-4201. Email us at sales@tdisdi.com.

If this event does not fit your schedule, not to worry! There will be similar events later in the year at Bonne Terre Mine, Haigh Quarry, Dutch Springs, Mermet Springs and Blue Hole in New Mexico, however this is the only scheduled event at our corporate offices!

*Or after logging 10 hours on the Discovery

The TDI Decompression Procedures course will prepare you for planned staged decompression diving. With a maximum operating depth of 45m/150 feet, this course is your first step beyond the normal sport diving limits.

Brian Carney, Group President for SDI, TDI and ERDI stated, “It has been over 10 years since the last version of our decompression procedures materials were released. Since then our knowledge of decompression theory has expanded vastly. These materials are an in-depth explanation of decompression theory, equipment, and procedures. We are really happy with these updated materials and are sure our scuba members will be as well.”

The new Decompression Procedures products will include the new dive manual, a Knowledge Quest workbook, Instructor Guide, PowerPoint, and Instructor Resource CD. In addition, the Decompression Procedures course will also be available online, increasing TDI’s eLearning Scuba Dive Library once again.

Contact your local TDI Dive center and book a course now. Get ready for a summer of serious diving!

For more information please contact TDI:
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TechnicalDivingInt

With all the fuss lately about “recreational rebreathers” it’s interesting to think that rebreather manufacturers and those of us who are converts to rebreather diving have been promoting the use of rebreathers in all types of diving for what seems like a long, long while.

As a matter of fact, we were wondering how long it would be before the rest of the scuba diving industry caught on and realized that for a growing number of divers, rebreathers really are the very best option to help them get the most bang for their bottom-time buck.

Another small reminder for those looking seriously at giving rebreathers a try sometime this season is that although the Tech Diving Agencies often get accused of keeping all the really fun stuff for themselves — and rebreathers certainly fall into the fun category — TDI has been actively offering rebreather training to active sport divers since the agency opened its doors in 1994. Along the way, through changes and innovations in rebreather design and technology, TDI has kept working hard at being “rebreather friendly” and demystifying what is surely the most rapidly expanding market segment in diving.

TDI’s association with rebreathers started when Bret Gilliam (TDI’s founder and guiding light for the first decade of the agency’s existence), and a handful of the first cadre of diving instructors and regional managers, put together a comprehensive teaching/learning package for the Drager Dolphin. The Drager Dolphin was a semi-closed rebreather based unit designed for military service but rigged to appeal to recreational divers who were interested not in great depth or long cave penetrations but simply logging more bottom-time and getting closer to marine life with their cameras.

Almost every piece of promotional material and many of the “Hall of Fame” framed photos hanging on the walls of TDI’s Florida offices feature pictures of Drager units being used in places as far apart as Fiji, Florida and the Fjords of Norway. Many of TDI’s more experienced rebreather instructors — the men and women who’ve racked up literally thousands of underwater hours and diver wearing the agency colors — cut their teeth on those early SCR units.

In the mid to late 90s, general interest in closed-circuit rebreathers started to peak; these more complex, more flexible, and more “techie” units began to appear at dive sights all over the world, but particularly in Europe, which seemed to be more ready to drop the bubble-making habit than North America.

Perhaps one thing affecting popularity was that up until this point, finding an instructor and getting quality training on a CCR was about as difficult and mysterious to most divers as becoming a spy. The turn-around, and what many considered the tipping point which “would make rebreathers mainstream,” was TDI publishing student and instructor materials for CCR units from two best-selling manufacturers: Kiss Rebreathers (makers of the Classic and Sport CCR) and Ambient Pressure Diving (makers of the Inspiration and Evolution computer-controlled units). These easy to understand and manufacturer-sanctioned reading materials, coupled with industry-leading standards for rebreather instructors, meant that many recreational and sport divers started to look at CCRs as a viable alternative to traditional open-circuit scuba for many kinds of diving, from open-water reefs and fish photography to cavern, cave and wreck exploration.

By the mid to late 2000s, TDI sanctioned a full list of rebreather certification programs for very different machines from more than a dozen manufacturers situated around the globe: SCRs, and various types of diver-controlled, computer-controlled, and fully automatic CCRs.

During that period TDI produced standards for Poseidon’s “Recreational” CCR, the Discovery. This unit has many features that the agency felt made it particularly suitable for sport divers.

“The design and engineering of Poseidon’s entry-level unit offered many of the features and automated checks that we felt necessary to really make CCR technology available and appealing to divers who did not want the bother and complexity they associated with a “full-blown” closed-circuit rebreather,” explains Brian Carney, president of International Training (the governing company of SDI, TDI and ERDI). “It was quite simply a game-changer.”

With some prior knowledge of the way the market was leaning, and based on feedback from the dive community and rebreather manufacturers, TDI’s training department made an unprecedented change to its standards in the late 2000s.

Essentially, the chance was adding a “recreational-level” program to its rebreather curriculum. This additional program was applied to ALL units from each of the manufacturers supported by TDI. This program was intended for divers with little open-water experience and covered them for dives to 30 meters or less, with no decompression. Most popular of all, the program materials covered the topics traditionally covered in TDI’s Advanced Nitrox Program and did away with the requirement that this level of training was a prerequisite for the CCR course. This was a popular move with instructors and divers.

As the rebreather market expands and more and more divers decide that there is a rebreather in their future, it’s worth noting that TDI and its core of professional rebreather instructors have been promoting, teaching and refining no-bubble dives since 1994.

Got your interest? Learn more about Rebreathers and plan to embark on your “Silent Adventure!” Visit www.tdisdi.com TODAY to learn more.

Contact TDI SDI and ERDI
If you would like more information about redundant air sources or to schedule an appointment with TDI, please contact:

TDI
Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com
Web: www.tdisdi.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TechnicalDivingInt