Becoming a PSD Instructor in the Modern World vs. Old World?
In the old world of public safety diving, instructors were often experienced divers who used common sense to establish educational practices.
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A Core Standard for a New Public Safety Diver
A core standard for training public safety divers is essential. Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI) has worked to develop a set of training protocols where equipment, safety planning, and operational activities are pre-designed to follow NFPA and OSHA guidelines.
FDIC 2016 Follow Up
If you are in the public safety community and you have never had the chance to attend FDIC, you should make the effort.
Surface Supplied vs. Back Gas
Air delivery is one topic that must be discussed and planned on any dive team.
4 Tips to Help You Prepare to Testify in Court
by Dr. Thomas Powell:
Within the public safety community the court room is a place to which individuals may be called at any time. Legal proceedings surrounding injuries, recoveries, operations, and activities may require individuals, groups, or even whole teams to bring insight before jurors or a judge. For this reason, public safety dive teams must be prepared to explain their actions and findings involving any operational activity. Though being called to court is not a common occurrence for public safety divers, training must be put into place to prepare for what MAY happen. A lack of preparation could bring harm to the stability of a dive team or even allow a law-breaking individual to go free because of a lack of information, evidence, or observable competency from the dive team. A dive team member who performs perfectly underwater, but who cannot face an attorney may present what appears to be incompetence to a judging group of jurors.
Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI) has developed a course program designed to help dive team members be mentally prepared to face the courtroom. This program, Testifying in Court, discusses topics from proper wear and appearance for courtroom proceedings to preparation prior to court. Being prepared is the most efficient manner in which a diver can comfortably face questions from attorneys and provide truthful and quality data as needed.
Four tips that can help any public safety diver prepare for court:
Review the subpoena
A subpoena is a legal document issued by a governmental body (most often the court) to an individual or group requiring that person or body to present information. If that person or body does not follow through with the presentation of evidence or information, the person or group will be penalized. If a dive team or dive team member is presented with a subpoena, the document should be reviewed for information. A subpoena will often provide information regarding the evidence or testimony desired by the court system as well as the names and actions related to that evidence or testimony. The date, type of court, time, and location of the required presentation will also be listed along with the attorney who issued the subpoena through the court system.
A subpoena must be reviewed to make sure that a dive team or team member understands why they are being called to appear, what items must be taken to present to the court, and when and where the person or group must be available to sit before the court. Understanding this information will also help establish a timeframe for preparation and presentation practice.
Review the dive reports
Once a subpoena has been reviewed, all information regarding the associated dive operation must be pulled and reviewed and by all available parties who partook in the operation. Team members must work together to develop a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of what actions were performed, what items were found, and how that information was documented. This may also involve photographs, sketches, or other forms of documentation that must be compiled and copied for the court.
A diver should never enter the courtroom without understanding what took place and his or her actions in a clear fashion. For this reason, team members should rely on each other and documented information to ensure that a clear memory is recalled. A lack of memory regarding an old operation will not be viewed as acceptable or competent within a courtroom setting.
Meet with the attorney or solicitor
Next, a team must take the time to meet with the attorney or solicitor who generated the subpoena. A meeting of this type will help establish what information must be presented and in what manner. Essentially, the person or persons presenting information will be better able to prepare and present relevant information and avoid unforeseen questioning. This meeting will also give both parties the opportunity to plan out pertinent questions and responses associated with case-based information.
Know where to go
Finally, the diver or team members required to appear before the court must know where to go and when. If an individual fails to appear in court in response to a subpoena, that person can be held in contempt of court and face legal consequences. Similarly, the individual being asked to testify may be viewed as incompetent, and therefore critical case-related data may be eliminated from court proceedings. A situation such as this may even cause a case to be dropped and a potentially guilty defendant to go free.
When the court system calls upon a diver, that diver must be prepared to present knowledgeable and quality data in a competent fashion. To accomplish this goal, dive teams must be prepared for the potential need to present information in court through the development of both education and mission records. ERDI has developed an educational program to help any team achieve this objective. Through competent action and the ability to record and recall information, teams can both justify actions and verify operational credibility.
– Dr. Thomas Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC
The Training You Cannot Skip if You Want to Bring Your Team Home Safely
by Dr. Thomas Powell:
Dive teams operating in the modern world can only be successful if they train to be successful. A dive team is comprised of volunteers who have taken a step beyond recreational scuba. These men and women have chosen to dive in barely tolerable, low-visibility conditions in an effort to serve their communities. For some, this is an obligation, and for others, public safety diving can become a passion. To be successful, team leaders must bring every team member home from every operation. To accomplish this objective, dive teams must be prepared for the most extreme, harsh, and unfriendly environments. To achieve this level of preparation, teams must train beyond basic levels of diver knowledge.
The first step for any dive team is to both understand and practice full encapsulation; encapsulation means that all areas of the diver’s body are covered and protected from exposure to the environment. The conditions in which public safety divers work can be extreme, to improve safety divers must be encapsulated when they enter the water. The first steps toward achieving encapsulation involves training in the use of dry suits and full face masks. Together, these two items (in conjunction with dry gloves, boots, and hoods) can provide encapsulated protection. Experience with dry suits and full face masks is essential when entertaining emergency response training. International Training offers both sport training in full face masks and dry suits through SDI, and technician and operational training through ERDI. Eliminating diver contact with water and the environment can reduce the dangerous potential for a diver to come into contact with chemical, biological, or other hazardous materials.
Once a diver understands encapsulation and how his or her equipment functions and is used, team-based emergency response training must be performed. The first of these steps can be found with Emergency Response Diver 1 (ERD 1). The basic ERD 1 Course takes a diver/dive team and introduces operational settings, skills practice, team work, recovery operations, planning procedures, and protocols. This program also offers an opportune time to advance a diver from recreational training with full face masks and dry suits to operational levels while performing team-based exercises. This type of program increases safety by forcing a team to work in unison through scenario-based operational simulations. If a team is trained to work together, the overall risk held by individuals is reduced. Essentially, the team members will learn to trust one another to work toward safe success.
Third, a team must review the types of operations performed in its operational setting. Are there rivers and streams? Do major social events occur? Is a boat critical for many operational entries and exits? The answers to these questions will provide guidance as to what other forms of operational training a team may require. Moving water suggests a need for ERD Swift Water training. The need for a boat suggests the need for ERD Small Boat Operations training. The presence of major events may suggest the need for ERD Threat Assessment training. ERDI provides many sub-specializations for dive teams. In many cases, these courses may require a request from a team leader. The best way to discover how to get the training you need is to contact an area ERDI Instructor and find out how best to get the assistance you need. Any ERDI Instructor can provide a doorway to assistance, and if an instructor is not in your region, ERDI’s World Headquarters can help to provide assistance as needed.
One course that every dive team must take is ERD Contaminated Water. Certain departments of various types already undergo hazardous materials training, but teams must train to deal with decontamination and hazmat problems as they pertain to dive operations. Beyond basic encapsulation, team members must understand how to scrub, clean, and remove gear from a diver in the manner that best protects the diver’s physical well-being. Divers must trust one another to bring each other home following an operation. The actions required to achieve this objective do not end when a diver leaves the water. Public safety divers must view all dive operations as contaminated water scenarios. The water in which a diver operates may be unknown and any form of hazardous material may exist in that water. When a diver exits the water, this hazardous material may still remain on the diver’s equipment.
Once a team has trained through various operational scenarios, and prepared for the types of operations most common in the team’s operational region, the Emergency Response Diver 2 (ERD 2) program serves as a capstone course. This program is one that brings together the learned knowledge and skills of all team members to practice and train for the worst worst-case scenarios. Essentially, divers can combine skill sets and organize activities into a streamlined set of operational protocols that provide the most secure and efficient method for bringing every diver home at the end of a mission.
Finally, no team is always ready for any type of operation. Once a team has deemed itself “trained,” the training cannot stop. On a regular cycle, team members must practice skill sets and problem adaptation. If this type of continuing education is not performed, team members may get rusty and skills may be forgotten. Issues such as this are what can get a team member hurt. One weak link in the educational chain can lead to a problematic operation. To encourage regular training and operational preparedness, ERDI suggests that one in every four team members become an ERD Dive Training Supervisor. This program is tailored to help a leader develop training plans, and incorporate skills practice into a regular program.
Safety is the key to operational success for any dive team. The most efficient way to remain safe is to train for the worst possible situations. A dive team must never stop training if it wishes to remain successful, safe, and to provide the most benefit to a community. With training comes safety, success, and security.
-Dr. Thomas Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC
Make Sure Your Team Comes Home Safely From Every Mission
by Dr. Thomas Powell:
Almost every day, the news media produce images and stories about different dive teams performing active operations around the world. These operations range from simple recoveries to major rescue efforts. In every case, the viewer almost always sees some sort of joint operation in which divers work with differing public safety agencies. The mission seems to be paramount in comparison to everything else being depicted. That being said, the viewer does not see the primary objective of any dive mission, which is: to bring the divers home safely. Safety must always come first, and any person involved in the dive mission must make it home, above all other tasks and objectives.
Many factors are associated with team member safety, but the first is scene security and safety. ERDI training teaches students to review operational scenes, to look for potential threats or problems, and to plan for safe entries and exits. Prior to arriving on scene, and even following arrival, team leadership must watch for potential problems and make adjustments as needed to eliminate excessive risk. An example can be found if an entry is steep, hazardous, or unsafe. In a situation such as this, a different entry point must be chosen. A diver’s physical safety must not be endangered in an effort to make use of the closest entry point.
Second, dive teams have a bad habit of racing to scenes and each team member wants to be the individual who finds the lost item. This type of behavior is unacceptable unless the potential exists for a live victim. If a search is needed to locate items such as a body, evidentiary items, or even a vehicle, the team involved has all the time in the world when facing possible safety issues. There is no acceptable level of risk that is worth a diver’s life. The team must take time to plan the operation, implement that plan, react to possible issues, safely recover any items, and secure each diver following the operation. These steps take time, and haste can cause people to make errors. Any error could cost someone his or her life when dealing with complex equipment in zero visibility environments. Essentially, thorough planning and a slow but thoughtful pace are critical to team success.
On a dive scene, every team member is a dive safety officer. If problems are recognized or the potential for injury is discovered, the team member discovering these issues must make them known. Timidity or refraining from acknowledging risk to a supervisor could elevate the potential for harm to a teammate. For this reason, team leaders must encourage team members to speak up and to remain honest when problems are discovered. Any diver has the right to call a mission. The rules of recreational diving must spill over into public safety when safety is a concern. If the risk to human life is great, a dive must be called.
Safety must always come first in diving. Public safety diving is no different in this aspect from any other type of diving. Teams must train for the worst and hope for the best. If team members have prepared for worst case scenarios, and practiced how to cope with any foreseeable issue, risks may be reduced. The objective for any team member should be to return home with his or her fellow teammates. Public safety divers of all types must watch each other’s backs, protect one another, and stay focused on the mission at hand while remembering that the diver comes first. If this level of trust does not exist within a team, a diver could become injured and the team may not be available the next time the community has a need.
– Dr. Thomas Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC
3 Things to Keep Your Public Safety Dive Team Safe
by Dr. Thomas W. Powell:
In the modern scuba industry, individuals have many paths to choose from. One of the most complex routes an individual may take is that of the public safety diver. A public safety diver must first be a recreational scuba diver, and then choose to entertain black water, dangerous environments, and complex procedural standards. These factors suggest that a dive team made up of public safety divers must work hard to ensure member safety while seeking objective completion. Three of the most important factors that can keep a public safety diver safe are: knowing the environment and bottom, understanding risk versus benefit, and having the proper equipment.
Understanding the Environment
Understanding the environment in which a public safety dive team operates is critical. Every ERDI public safety course starts by telling students to “size up” a scene and take note of important information. This information may include objects such as vehicle wreckage or dangerous entry points, or even problematic odors such as the scent of fuel or dangerous gasses. If divers cannot prep and perform in a safe fashion, the associated mission is likely to grow problematic or unsafe.
Similarly, divers are taught to obtain information from outside resources and even witnesses to better understand a dive environment. A witness may help to focus a search area, while a local may know the bottom features of a body of water. Fishermen often know where lines get snagged or boats have trouble. If a witness can help narrow a search area, the divers will have a reduced area to cover which may reduce diver exhaustion and the total time underwater. If a local can provide information, a team leader may be better prepared for planning the proper search patterns or team resources to overcome possible hazards that were otherwise unknown.
Finally, public safety divers are taught to obtain information about water quality. This information may come from local labs, state facilities, or even the Environmental Protection Agency. This information can be filed and maintained to ensure that when a team deploys, as much data as possible is available to determine if a dive operation should be performed. Knowing the quality of water in a specific location may help a diver plan what equipment and support resources are needed. This knowledge may also help to show the need for resources maintained at differing departments (such as a HAZMAT team) to be made available on the scene of a dive.
Risk vs. Benefit
In regard to risks versus benefits, all forms of diving involve some level of risk analysis. A recreational diver must analyze possible depths, temperatures, personal health, and other factors to determine if a dive should be considered reasonable and safe on a satisfactory level. Public safety diving is no different other than to involve a greater set of risk factors. Team leaders and individual divers must determine if the lack of visibility, dangerous water quality, underwater hazards, and various other factors make a search worthwhile. For example, if a criminal has admitted to a crime, and other evidentiary factors have almost sealed a case for a prosecutor, the handgun lost in a swamp may not be worth seeking if the risk associated with harming a diver is too great.
Divers operating on public safety dive teams must recognize potential threats and safety concerns. Every diver is a dive safety officer when it comes to the safety of his/her self and others. If entries are too dangerous, another route must be planned. If the water quality is too poor and dry suits are not available, the team must decide not to dive. No item, weapon, or remains, is worth the life of a healthy public safety diver. All divers accept risks when they choose to entertain the sport of scuba diving. Despite this, a team or dive organization must remember that liability is a constant issue when the safety of others is in question. The reality is that a team and its members must determine what level of risk they consider to be safe (following historical and data-based guidance), and work together to not violate this limitation. Finding a missing item is a success for any dive team, but the family members of an injured diver may not recognize any level of success over the injury.
Having the Right Equipment
Finally, a dive team must have and maintain proper equipment for the missions in which the team may choose to participate. ERDI divers are taught that all dives should be considered to involve contaminated water unless definitive proof shows otherwise. This education suggests that divers operating within public safety parameters should be fully encapsulated with dry suits, fitted and attached hoods, full-face masks, and attached gloves and boots. The equipment used by dive team members should also be standardized to ensure that every team member knows where items are placed and how to assist one-another during an emergency. Similarly, a diver should never be required to bail out of his or her mask if at all possible. For this reason, switch blocks become essential to allow a diver to switch to backup gasses as needed. The lines used to connect divers to tenders must be sturdy and rated to handle contact with sharp objects underwater. In regard to secondary search equipment, metal detectors or sonars can reduce search times, decontamination equipment ensures a higher level of individual safety, and even items like cylinder stands can ensure increased comfort and safety when dealing with diver exhaustion during decontamination. 
A dive team must be prepared to provide to its divers the equipment that they need. Once this equipment is possessed, it must be maintained and serviced on a regular basis. When equipment is subjected to the worst possible environments, service is critical to prevent possible failures.
If a dive team seeks to understand its operational environment, maintains proper equipment, and ensures the benefits of an operation outweigh the risks, that team is more likely to experience success and higher levels of diver safety. Safety should be the first concern of any dive team. No operation is worth the lives of team members, and the risks associated with public safety dive operations must always be recognized and monitored to the highest degree possible.
-Dr. Thomas W. Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC
How to Convince Your Supervisor You Need ERDI Training
All leaders overseeing public safety organizations recognize and understand the topic of liability, and ERDI training can help any team improve and protect itself.