Gary D.:We have been trained with the QR but haven't used them. We have so many entanglement hazards that normally we just hang onto the line so we can drop it and go should we need to.
Gary D.
Gary, not to single you out here as I appreciate your friendship and hold you in the highest regards. Additionally, you have a way of "bailing out" of the search line during an emergency by simply letting go. That being said, I have to point out two things on this subject because I want you and other forum readers to stay safe!
"We have been trained with the QR but haven't used them."
The good news is you will NEVER need a "quick release snap shackle" ... until you draw your second to last breath underwater. I am optimistic that you will have a QR before that happens!
"...we just hang onto the line so we can drop it and go should we need to."
While the number of instances have been few, every PSD training organization is recommending chest harnesses in order to increase diver safety. You may recall that Dive Rescue International was the LAST company to make this switch, primarily because we believed it was dangerous. I believe I was the last holdout at DRI based on past PSD fatality data, but then we discovered the snap shackle made a better system. It was apparent that my concerns had been properly addressed by people smarter than myself!
Because we are aware there is a better and safer way, I feel a deep sense of duty to inform as many people as we can.
This is not "training agency bashing" as some may perceive it. This is not "grand standing" either. The depth of the problem was not fully understood until a recent review of the PSD LODD data at the IADRS conference. The facts speak for themselves and as the leader for the IADRS, I am compelled to share this information.
Past "good luck" should not drive public safety divers to continue doing things the "old way." When we discover a safer way, it is responsible for all of us to embrace the change and continue to find more ways to improve safety. Our mission will not be fully finished until we have stopped line of duty deaths in the public safety diving community.