A few weeks ago I was sitting on a dive boat between dives and noticed they had a plastic back-board strapped to the underside of their overhead covers frame. And this got me to be thinking
I currently am taking a BSAC Dive Leaders course. Also a few weeks ago, right around the time I spotted the back-board on the dive boat, we had a theory lesson on Emergency Operations. We discussed the various aspects of the different rescue procedures. One discussed was recovery of an unconscious diver and getting them out of the water and onto the boat (if parameters dictate that) as soon as possible. I also remember from my PADI Rescue Diver course the extreme physical difficulty it was to transport an unconscious diver from the water to the pools edge at that time I could only wonder how much more difficult it would be to get them onto the dock or a boats or even worse in choppy sea conditions all under the umbrella of a real emergency environment. This is something I definitely could not do on my own for an adult and would need assistance.
So I am sitting on the boat and see this back-board and my wheels start to spin. What is the opinion of others on using a back-board to remove an unconscious person from the water?
I can see positives as it offers a stable platform to support the dive for any unknown injuries; gives rescuers a solid handle to grab hold of; the board itself can be used as a fulcrum on the boat/docks edge just to name the ones that pop into my mind while I write this. The most glaring negative is the time element if the diver is not breathing, the board evacuation might take valuable time to set up.
Maybe this was covered in my PADI course; if it was I do not remember. I also plan to ask my BSAC instructors for their opinion. But for this forum I would be interested to hear what SB members have to say.
Thanks,
~ME~
:cool2:
I currently am taking a BSAC Dive Leaders course. Also a few weeks ago, right around the time I spotted the back-board on the dive boat, we had a theory lesson on Emergency Operations. We discussed the various aspects of the different rescue procedures. One discussed was recovery of an unconscious diver and getting them out of the water and onto the boat (if parameters dictate that) as soon as possible. I also remember from my PADI Rescue Diver course the extreme physical difficulty it was to transport an unconscious diver from the water to the pools edge at that time I could only wonder how much more difficult it would be to get them onto the dock or a boats or even worse in choppy sea conditions all under the umbrella of a real emergency environment. This is something I definitely could not do on my own for an adult and would need assistance.
So I am sitting on the boat and see this back-board and my wheels start to spin. What is the opinion of others on using a back-board to remove an unconscious person from the water?
I can see positives as it offers a stable platform to support the dive for any unknown injuries; gives rescuers a solid handle to grab hold of; the board itself can be used as a fulcrum on the boat/docks edge just to name the ones that pop into my mind while I write this. The most glaring negative is the time element if the diver is not breathing, the board evacuation might take valuable time to set up.
Maybe this was covered in my PADI course; if it was I do not remember. I also plan to ask my BSAC instructors for their opinion. But for this forum I would be interested to hear what SB members have to say.
Thanks,
~ME~
:cool2: