Rescue and release buckles

[JKSteger]

I finished my rescue class yesterday and while we were doing the pool sessions and exercise my instructor noticed that all of our Dive Rite release buckles were oriented the same as a weight belt. I didn't think much of it at first but he explained that it could pose a problem.

Say you have an unconscious diver assist and needed to drop his/her weight belt to establish positive buoyancy at the surface and you see the buckle that is oriented right hand release, as all weight belts should be, and release it...but wait it was the harness instead! Now the victim has just been released from his buoyancy device and has a weight belt around his waist. Guess what, you just lost him. Maybe it was a shallow quarry, but then again you were on a wall dive and the bottom is 600 feet below.

This got me thinking. What if I was the unconscious victim and my rescuer needed to establish positive buoyancy and instead of releasing my weight belt released my harness (because my buckle is oriented as a right hand release) and I also had on a weight belt and I fall to the bottom.

Am I putting my life in danger because my harness release buckle is oriented the same as my weight belt? I'm going to switch my harness release buckle to a "left handed" release.

Am I on the right track here? After this class I'll forever look at diving and equipment and buddies and so forth in a different light. Best class I've ever taken BTW.

Jeremy

 

[loosebits]

Well, if someone released my harness, it wouldn't exactly fall off..

Technically according to OW classes you are supposed to have a left handed release on your harness/BC but I can't think of an incident where it was said "he would have survived only if his harness buckle was on the correct side".

When I do dive with a weight belt (usually I'm on steel doubles so I don't have any ditchable weight), I have it threaded under my crotch strap so it doesn't accidentally come off and cause a much more common problem so my rescuer would have to undo my harness anyway to remove my crotch strap.

From your photo, it appears you often dive dry. With a single tank, how much lead are you wearing? 10 lbs? 20? What would happen if someone ditched all the weight? They would probably lose control of you and send you shooting to the surface. I would consider sending an unconscious diver to the surface on a solo uncontrolled ascent is only a viable option when nothing else is possible. I would much prefer that my would be rescuer inflate my BC (manually if needed) and assist me to the surface with the reg in my mouth even if I'm not breathing (maybe I'll start on the way up) than send me rocketing up knowing it will likely be at least 5 mins until someone is able to pull me from the water and in the meanwhile I'm floating face down with the reg out of my mouth.

 

[jbd]

This is why part of the pre-dive check is a review of your buddies equipment. This is also why GUE and others are so adamant about standardization of equipment.

 

[loosebits]

I suppose he is refering to worst case scenario where a diver runs across another diver sitting on the bottom unconscious. My buddy and I have already discussed emergency procedures and what I would want him to do if:

- I had an O2 hit with a lot of deco
- I was unconscious for some unknown reason
- I was attacked by an albino cave monster

 

[Meng_Tze]

...needed to drop his/her weight belt to establish positive buoyancy at the surface ......
Jeremy

Here is your problem......at no time should a diver be soooo overweighted that dropping the weight belt is the only solution. Trying to establish standards for orienting buckles is not the solution to this problem. Dive agencies should focus a lot more on proper balancing of rigs rather than setting a standard for which buckle goes which way......

But, to give an alternative.... screw the buckle....... cut it loose. Most of the time you will find that the weight belt is underneath something (most divers are concious of loosing the belt) and thus it will be a challenge to just unbuckle and drop.

On the other hand.... what about those integrated weights? They dont all have the same mechanism.....some are simply pull out, others have a buckle to secure them (top to bottom, front to back oriented).... surely that would give one the same issue as the buckle on the weight belt?

 

[bisonduquebec]

This is all GUE related. You use right-handed buckled when diving with a canister dive light (when the canister is right mounted). The canister cannot be removed if the buckle is installed on the right strap (think about it . 2 reasons: 1- is the light cable is entengled, you can remove the canister. 2- Weight ditching; ditching the light canister (some are quite heavy) will enable you to reach the surface.

I personnally use the buckle on the left strap (right-handed) but I also don't use a weight belt (using weight integrated pouches. So this way, no confusion.

 

[JKSteger]

You all are correct but I'm thinking about worst case. The one where the diver that needs rescue is not in your group and YOU need to react. The victim has no idea what weight check means and is diving a 30# lift with a steel 130, 10 pounds of dichable weight and a skin. Their also trying out that brand new, Fancy BCD (with no crotch strap) and it's a size larger than he should be wearing. He does a stride off of the boat. Oh crap! He forgot to connect the power inflator...He goes strait down to the bottom at 65'. He is kikking as hard as he can and somehow manages to break the surface but cannot keep above it. He is wearing hiself out and has become paniced! You have to enter the water to perform a rescue.
Now you on the other hand dive a very ballanced rig with no ditchable weight (problem....?) when you reach him your trying to esablish positive buoyancy for both him and yourself but realise that you don't have enought lift for the both of you. You have to drop his weights but you are not familiar with his new "techy" BCD but you notice he has the "standard" weight belt buckle, right hand release and all. So you release it hopping to drop his weights but instead just dropped him to the bottom!
Now I know that I'm really reaching for this to actually happen but it COULD happen. It does follow along with GUE and the common equipment configuration and such but like this scenerio, the diver is a new OW diver.

This is basically a "get you thinking" scenerio. I must say though, after going thru several scenerio's I'm thinking differently about gear and configurations in a "worst case" scenerio.

Also...would you dive in a remote location where you know your cell phones have no signal. (assuming a shore dive at a lake, river, etc). What would happen if you did have an emergency and could not reach EMS or DAN quickly. Where is the closest phone that you could use? Closest hospital, compresstion chamber?

Got me thinking about alot of things.

Cheers,
Jeremy

 

[Thalassamania]

That is why we use different kinds of buckles, airplane type on the tank and either a wire-bail buckle or a seaquest style buckle on the weightbelt.

 

[TheRedHead]

have to drop his weights but you are not familiar with his new "techy" BCD but you notice he has the "standard" weight belt buckle, right hand release and all. So you release it hopping to drop his weights but instead just dropped him to the bottom!

Why don't you just connect his power inflator and pump some air into his BC? He's got a regulator in his mouth, right? He's not going to drown at 65 feet.

 

[Web Monkey]

Use something like a DUI weight harness and it won't be an issue.

If you want to drop the weights, pull the big yellow loops.

Terry

I finished my rescue class yesterday and while we were doing the pool sessions and exercise my instructor noticed that all of our Dive Rite release buckles were oriented the same as a weight belt. I didn't think much of it at first but he explained that it could pose a problem.