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PADI Diving Safety Practices

The following summary of diving safety practices will help you remember important points of this course. Refer to this summary from time to time to refresh your memory on diving safety practices.

Preparation
1. Stay healthy and fit for diving. Eat right, exercise regularly and get adequate rest.

2. Have approval for diving from a physician who has given you a thorough medical examination and have one every two years.

3. Be recently trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). To acquire training in these areas, take the Medic First Aid course offered by PADI Instructors and Dive Centers.

4. Maintain your diving skills by diving as often as you can and continuing your diver education. Take the PADI Scuba Review experience after long periods of inactivity.

5. Get an orientation to new diving conditions, activities or areas. When planning a dive in a new, unfamiliar area, it is highly recommended that you participate in a Discover Local Diving experience. Remember that you should have special training for some activities.

6. Always have and use all the equipment needed for local diving conditions.

7. Have scuba equipment serviced annually. Have scuba tanks visually inspected regularly and pressure tested at required intervals. Maintain your equipment in good condition and inspect it before diving.

8. Only fill scuba tanks with pure, dry compressed air from reputable air stations.

Predive
1. Dive only when feeling well, both physically and mentally. Have a confident feeling about the dive. Be sure the dive and its activities are within your capabilities. Remember — diving is supposed to be fun. If you don't think it will be safe or fun, don't make the dive.

2. Know the dive site. Be familiar with the conditions and any possible hazards.

3. Check the weather forecast before leaving. Evaluate the diving conditions, those present and expected, and dive only when the conditions are as good or better than those you were trained in. Avoid diving when conditions are unfavorable.

4. Refrain from alcohol, smoking or dangerous drugs before or immediately after diving.

5. Plan your dives with your buddy. Agree on objectives, direction, and depth and time limits. Review underwater communications, emergency procedures and what to do if you become separated.

6. Always plan for no-decompression diving. Consult the Recreational Dive Planner and allow for a margin of safety. Avoid diving to the maximum time limits. Make your deepest dive of the day first. Know how to perform an emergency decompression stop, but avoid having to do so. Plan to make safety stops whenever possible. Be aware of the effects of flying after diving and diving at altitudes greater than 1000 feet.

7. Inspect both your and your buddy's equipment. Know how to operate each other's equipment. Always conduct the PADI Predive Safety Check: Begin With Review And Friend.

8. Be prepared for emergencies. Have local emergency contact information on hand, just in case.

Diving
1. Properly weight yourself for neutral buoyancy. Check your buoyancy at the surface and avoid being over-weighted.

2. Always wear a proper buoyancy control device (BCD). Use your buoyancy control device to regulate your buoyancy. Avoid contact with the bottom by being neutrally buoyant — for your benefit and the benefit of the aquatic environment. Inflate your BCD at the surface to provide ample positive buoyancy.

3. Display the dive flag and stay near it. See Dive Flag - It's the Law.

4. Begin dives against the current or take into consideration the effect the current will have during the dive. Plan your dive so you don't have to fight the current to reach your exit point.

5. Equalize pressure early and often during descents. If you feel discomfort in a body air space, ascend until the discomfort goes away, equalize, then continue the dive. If unable to equalize, abort the dive.

6. Remain with your buddy throughout the dive. Know how to reunite if you accidentally become separated.

7. Limit your depth to 60 feet or less. Remember that 60 feet is the recommended limit for new divers. Shallower diving conserves your air, increases your bottom time and helps reduce the risk of decompression sickness.

8. Treat spear guns as dangerous weapons. Never load them out of water and always unload them before leaving the water.

9. Avoid contact with unfamiliar aquatic plants and animals.

10. Be alert for possible problems and avoid them. Check your equipment frequently while under water, especially your gauges: depth gauge, timing device and submersible pressure gauge.

11. Exit the water with a minimum of 300 psi in your tank.

12. Pace yourself. Avoid overexertion and breathlessness. If you become breathless, stop, rest and recover before proceeding.

13. Breathe properly — slowly, deeply and continuously. Never hold your breath while scuba diving. Exhale slowly and continuously any time the regulator is not in your mouth. Avoid excessive hyperventilation when skin (breath-hold) diving.

14. In an emergency, stop, think, breathe, get control and then take action. Act, don't react.

15. Ascend carefully and correctly. Reach up and look up during the ascent. Come up no faster than 60 feet per minute. Plan a 3-minute safety stop at 15 feet whenever possible. Listen for boats as you come up, and establish buoyancy as soon as you reach the surface. Be a S.A.F.E. Diver.

16. Stop diving when you're cold or tired. Don't overextend yourself.

17. Stick to your dive plan under water. Don't revise a dive plan under water.

General Diving Safety Practices
1. Be an active diver. Dive frequently to maintain your proficiency.

2. Build your experience and capabilities gradually under safe conditions.

3. Keep a log of your diving activities. This record of your training and experience is a valuable reference for future dives.

4. Don't lend your equipment to untrained persons. Never attempt to teach another person how to dive. Teaching diving requires a high degree of specialized training and skill. Leave instruction to trained professionals.

5. Continue your diving education. Remember that a good diver never stops learning.

PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale)

During pregnancy the right and left sides of the foetal heart are connected. The hole between the right and left sides is known as the Foramen Ovale. Normally this should heal over after birth, separating the venous and arterial blood supplies passing through the heart. However in a proportion of the population (perhaps 25%) this hole does not close up completely, resulting in a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO). The consequence for divers is that having a PFO can increase the risk of decompression illness. This occurs as a result of bubbles in the venous circulation (which would normally be filtered out in the lungs) shunting across to the arterial circulation, where they continue to expand in size.

Pots, Buoys and Markers

Dive well away from fishermen's buoys, pots and pot markers, unless there are special circumstances.

Pregnancy

Medical evidence as to the safety of diving while pregnant is not conclusive. However there is evidence that deep diving may cause harm to the fetus. Certainly decompression illness and its subsequent treatment could be harmful to the fetus. Consequently if a woman is pregnant, or is trying to become pregnant, she is strongly advised not to dive.

If a woman discovers she is pregnant and has been diving during the pregnancy, she is advised to discuss her case with her physician.

Qualifying Dives

Open water qualifying dives should be made under the guidance of a club instructor or approved Dive Leader. Each dive should increase the diver's experience of differing underwater conditions and where appropriate follow the format laid out within the training scheme.