Safety Culture - diving in the zone
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“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...”
Safety Culture
Look After Your People
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Simon Pridmore
In the book Into Thin Air, journalist Jon Krakauer tells the story of five people who died near the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. Two were expedition leaders, one was a professional guide and two were their clients.
Teamwork
If you dive within a team, discuss the characteristics of a high-performing cohesive team described in this article with fellow divers.
There may not be an "I" in team, but there's one in "win", "live", "first" and "dive"!
Just Culture
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Debriefing allows lessons to be learned—successes and failures. Photo by Gareth Lock.
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?
Checklists - a tick in the box
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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.
Safety Culture: What is it and do I have it?
In August 2012, I wrote an article which discussed just culture and what this meant in the context of recreational and technical scuba diving, and using this concept, how we can improve diving safety.
Why you should never go diving with an idiot
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Steve Lewis
Being swept along on this technical diving thing, has been a long, somewhat twisted, but definitely entertaining journey. If you and I had met when the whole affair started, we could not possibly have envisioned how directly and pervasively, what were then radical activities, like cave diving, trimix diving and rebreather diving, would influence the mainstream dive community.
Breaking the Chain
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Last year I was invited to deliver a lecture at the Oztek show in Sydney, Australia. I spoke on the topic “What Makes a Good Technical Diver”, and one particular point I covered on accident avoidance drew a very positive response and provoked a number of questions from the audience.
Exposure—How Long, How Deep, How Cozy?
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Peter Symes
Christian Skauge
The Royal Mail Ship, Empress of Ireland, was an ocean-going luxury liner on her way to Liverpool from Quebec City when she sank in the Saint Lawrence River, 14 minutes after colliding with a Norwegian collier in the early morning fog of 29 May 1914. She had 1,477 people on board—passengers and crew—and the accident claimed the lives of 1,012, more than 800 of them passengers.
The Insidious Threat of Hypoxic Blackout in Rebreather Diving
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Peter Symes
Why rebreather divers, even more so than open circuit divers, need to be in control and focused when they ascend.
Seven Deadly Sins
Except if you spent a few years in a catholic church or a few hours enjoying the movie with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the seven deadly sins are often considered a notion of the past.