Emergency Documents?

[Basheirt]

Some time back I recall reading in one of the forums on ScubaBoard about suggestions from an actual Search & Rescue pilot for emergency paperwork to have with you, and to leave behind with a dive-coordinator (shop owner, boat captain, etc) in the event of some anomaly while diving (don't surface near the boat, exit the beach at a different location, or an actual medical emergency where you are incapacitated, etc.).

Such documents might include basic emergency-contact information, non-diver contact info, copies of passports/driver's license, name of hotel/resort, list of emergency equipment you are carrying (mirror, whistle, radios, etc), and so on...

I did this for awhile, then accidentally left all my nicely laminated pages at a resort in Mexico last year. Fortunately, I was provided with proof that the operator shredded those documents after I left (for which I was grateful), but I never made a new set for future dives. Which leads me to my questions:

I'm wondering how many divers do this.
What papers/documents/instructions, exactly, do you carry (or provide to a dive operator)?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[tbone1004]

what I've found to work best is to make sure that your DAN profile is fully updated, and carry a card with DAN as your emergency contact and your DAN number below it. Saves you worrying about having all of your personal info not secured in the situation like you had above, and also since DAN should be the one handling all of the medical stuff anyway for a diving incident, it keeps everything centralized.

 

[t4e]

All dive OPs we used asked all those questions in their form anyway, plus we always provide our DAN policy number.

 

[Divescape]

I carry a red plastic folder, which i put on the windscreen of my car. It has a diver log as well as an emergency action plan, with instructions on calling DAN as well as nearest hospital and chamber. In the event i am the one that is incapacitated, i brief to break my car window and access the first aid kit. this is mainly for shore diving.

 

[tbone1004]

divescape, clarification for those that are in the US, DAN will not provide any information on the closest chamber until you call with an emergency. Reason being most of the chambers aren't reliable enough for them to list, so they have to call around to find the nearest one which is better than you driving to the nearest hospital and finding out that while they have a chamber, they have no one to operate it. Much better to just have them call DAN direct and let them deal with it.

 

[jimbeeler]

Personally, I have dog tags that I wear anytime I'm motorcycle riding or Scuba diving. One has my name, birthdate and emergency contact info. The other one has my health / prescription info.


Jim