Best Full Face Mask

[TotDoc]

We had FFM training at two points - the first was more introductory, and was specific to work at the aquarium. Mostly, the work there involves back gas supplied units that are used for the purposes of having comms to speak to the audience during shows in the main reef exhibit, and surface supplied units used to clean the contaminated shallow water areas in our wetland exhibits. I personally don't do any of the shows, so I don't know if they are getting additional training there, but I kind of doubt it. The max depth in our reef exhibit is about 30ish feet, and the shows are fairly brief, so even with increased CO2 buildup, exposure times are short - and it's not strenuous work. The wetlands area is "stand up and your OK" kind of depth, but in those exhibits we are working very hard in the gear. We certainly addressed the CO2 buildup, but the vomiting part was never discussed. I do know that FFM use at the aquarium was initially confined to these environments, and since the only prolonged time wearing the units, particularly while doing work, was occurring exclusively in shallow water, I wonder if some of the safety planning there simply involved just taking the mask off if there was a problem.

The second point in training comes during the open water scientific diving training, which is much more detailed. For this, the training happens in a local sink hole or off a boat in the gulf. They have been using surface supplied FFM for an increasing number of activities, for the obvious advantages that comms and surface supplied gas brings to a working environment in open water.

Since scientific diving regulation seems to fall somewhere between recreational diving guidelines and what is enforced by OSHA for commercial diving, I fear this is an area that has simply been overlooked. Certainly, surface supplied FFM work comprises only a small minority of the diving that is done at the aquarium, even when the open water work is considered, but I don't think it's our groups policy to be unprepared for emergency situations. I do know that our dive safety officer enjoys being proactive, so I will ask him about adding training for this to our curriculum. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention!

 

[Akimbo]

Do you wear a bailout bottle on surface supplied jobs? If not, I would definitely add that and the gas switching block to the rig. I am not up on OSHA regs but you might want to ask for thoughts in the commercial diving forum.

 

[TotDoc]

Yes, we have bailout on a switch block on the surface supply gear.

As far as the OSHA stuff, I probably shouldn't have brought that up. I was just trying to illustrate that the scientific diving community falls into an interesting niche when it comes to dive operations. We are very much commercial diving in some areas, and in many others, we are still operating under recreational guidelines. Governmental regulation of our activities, from a safety end, tend to fall somewhere in between these two areas. As such, our training programs for use of different diving modalities are developed locally, with some organizations such as AAUS (American Academy of Underwater Sciences) that have given some direction by providing some diving standards. Because of this, there is SOME standard expectations in training for the diving we do.

I think that in all likelihood, there just hasn't been any incidents related to FFM use and vomiting in the scientific world, and as such, it's not integrated into our training currently. That's why I said I wanted to run it past my DSO - I find it hard to believe he has never thought of the possible complications, but maybe he will be just as surprised as I was when I saw you talk about it. I honestly don't know why that never came to mind as something I would plan to handle underwater while on that gear.