Safety kit

vjongene · Jun 13, 2005

Having just had a discussion about how to make sure that our club's safety case will always be at hand when we dive, I was wondering to what extent divers are concerned about having such a kit immediately accessible when exiting the dive.

To me, a minimal kit consists of:

- bottle of O2 with a pressure regulator and flow control
- breathing mask and tubing to connect to the bottle
- cell phone or radio to call for help
- insulating blanket
- still drinking water and aspirin

Many other things would be useful, of course, but for argument's sake let's keep it short. So, how much do you feel you need this stuff?

lord1234 · Jun 13, 2005

some of the stuff you list(including o2) isn't "simple"
you missed some important stuff like

Band-aids

vjongene · Jun 13, 2005

lord1234:
some of the stuff you list(including o2) isn't "simple"
you missed some important stuff like

Band-aids

By "simple" I meant "short". Maybe I should edit. To me, O2 is a lot more important than Band-aids, even if it may be harder to procure...

wcl · Jun 13, 2005

I always want one handy, though I don't own one myself, so I sorta fall into two categories:
- Never dive w/o one
- Leave it to dive op / DM to provide it
Which together leads to
==> Require dive op / DM provide safety kit for all dives.

Cheers,
Walter

Charlie99 · Jun 13, 2005

I rarely dive without O2 and other safety items readily availble. That doesn't mean that I bring an O2 kit. I do check whether boats have O2 available, and most of my shore dives are within reasonable response time of ambulance/EMS service.

OTOH, I'm not going to call an ambulance to put a bandaid on something, but that's covered by the really basic first aid kit that's always in my car.

vjongene · Jun 13, 2005

From the first answers, I realize that my post may have been misunderstood by some. So I'll try to clarify.

To me, having O2 available right there when I come out of the water is important. When I dive locally, it is part of the security kit owned by the club. We try to lug it to our exit point, and to have the regulator connected before the dive, just in case.

When I travel, I try to make sure that the boat or dive shop I use has O2 that can be got to right away. I don't like to wait for emergency services to show up if I am developing a serious case of DCS.

So the question in the poll is really, how much importance do you give to having O2 and a few other essentials at hand when you exit the water, not in the ambulance that may show up an hour later.

paolov · Jun 13, 2005

warm water safety kit around resorts (in our area) the O2 is always available in the resort (the most) 30 mins away. dive sites average 10 mins away.

safety kit would be more for the equipment as any emergencies would be brought to shore. however a safety kit always consists of

Cell Phone
triple acting cream (anti inflamatory, anti bacterial, and pain reliever)
O-ring for valves
spare straps
extra air tank

paolov · Jun 13, 2005

considering i voted before the clarification, i have to say that if the Poll is limited to just O2, then my vote would be to have it all the time .

vjongene:
From the first answers, I realize that my post may have been misunderstood by some. So I'll try to clarify.

To me, having O2 available right there when I come out of the water is important. When I dive locally, it is part of the security kit owned by the club. We try to lug it to our exit point, and to have the regulator connected before the dive, just in case.

When I travel, I try to make sure that the boat or dive shop I use has O2 that can be got to right away. I don't like to wait for emergency services to show up if I am developing a serious case of DCS.

So the question in the poll is really, how much importance do you give to having O2 and a few other essentials at hand when you exit the water, not in the ambulance that may show up an hour later.

JoeFL · Jun 13, 2005

I think a safety kit like the one you describe would be very helpful if needed, but I do 99% of my diving from my own boat and do not own an O2 tank... maybe I should look into it, but it hasn't seemed like it would be very practical (famous last words?)... I haven't done much research.

Most of my diving less than a mile offshore, and only a few miles from an inlet. In a life or death situation I (or my buddy) could get the boat to an inlet in about 15 minutes, or run aground on a beach within about 2 or 3 minutes.

Of course the above assumes that we could get ourselves back on the boat to begin with in a medical emergency... it would be very difficuly if someone was unconsious, thats for sure. -Basically we have to avoid pushing the limits and make sure that we don't have a problem like that.

I do always have a cell phone, VHF radio, and basic first aid kit on the boat.

Safety kit

How do you feel about safety kits?

I would never dive without a safety kit handy

I prefer having a safety kit, but would dive without

I feel a safety kit is needed only for deco dives

I leave safety issues up to the boat captain or DM

I don't think there is any value in having a safety kit

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