"Reducing PSD fatalities by 20%" and "Searching the 3rd Dimension"

[BladesRobinson]

At the annual International Assiciaiton of Dive Rescue Specialists (IADRS.org) conference an interesting topic was discussed; where victims are not found on the bottom, and they are not on the surface either.

This scenario presents the most challenging recovery operation and at least two Line of Duty Deaths (LODDs) involving PSDs had extended recovery times because the victims were not where we typically look for them. We typically find victims floating on the surface or laying on the bottom, and just like people think of coins only having two sides (heads or tails) we often forget there is a third side to a coin; the edge.

Victims in mid-water present the most challenging operations to public safety divers. For those who study LODD for public safety divers, think Paul Jolliff and Frank Carriere. Both accidents were recognized within moments of occurring yet it took fellow team members more than two hours to locate Jolliff and more than 12 hours to locate Carriere (no currents).

I know of other situations where teams have been baffled when they have been unable to locate a victims on the bottom. Lake Lanier (GA) has the challenge of standing trees on the bottom on the man made lake. The Tennessee Valley Authority has similar challenges.

In the case of Constable Frank Carriere, he was conducting a search under the hull of a ship. He ran out of air and ditched his weight belt. He did not come to the surface so members of his team frantically searched the bottom under the ship. The next day Constable Carriere was located on the underside of the ship. It is easy to use hindsight 8 years later but I can easily understand why the divers would search the bottom for their teammate. Isn't that where we normally search if the victim isn't on the surface?

FF Paul Jolliff, had a similar but different circumstance. He became entangled in the search line that was attached to him via a carabiner. When he accidentally tied his search line to a weight on the bottom (as opposed to the second line he was carrying that was similar in diameter), he could not reach the surface. When his dive buddy surfaced and asked the boat crew if they has seen Jolliff, they knew they had a problem. More details are online at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200215.html

The bottom line is, not all victims will be found on the bottom/surface and it is prudent to think of the "third dimension" after you have done the obvious.

ONE MORE ITEM OF INTEREST...

The International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists (IADRS,org) reviewed the Line of Duty Deaths (LODDs) for Public Safety Divers (PSDs) during the annual membership meeting and have found two glaring statistics.

- 9% of the PSD LODDs can be attributed to divers doing work that is clearly outside the scope of public safety diving. They were doing work that should have been done by commercial divers (inspecting dams, drainage pipes, locating buoys, etc)

- 13% of the divers would have survived had they not been clipped to their search line via a carabiner or had they used a "quick release snap shackle" and been able to bail out of the entanglement. The International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists is strongly encouraging public safety divers to use "quick release snap shackles" when attaching search lines to chest harnesses so with one hand, they can release should an emergency arise. (N/A under ice or similar environments)

In some of the above mentioned cases, "high use connectors" on the comm ropes would also be required so when the diver ditches, he can keep his full face mask in place.

If WE (the PSD community) want to reduce nearly 20% of the Public Safety Diving fatalities, we need to stop doing "commercial work" and we need quit tying ourselves to search lines via a carabiner only. We know from numerous accidents in the swiftwater community that a rescuer can not release from a carabiner when it is under a "loaded" condition. Charles Hartman (MO), Frank Hut (SC), Art Schumacher (OH), Paul Jolliff (IN) and others may be alive today if they could have taken one pull on a quick release snap shackle and been released from the search line that held them underwater.

If we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it... (George Santayana, 1905)

Safe diving!

Blades Robinson, Executive Director
International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists
www.IADRS.org

 

[bridgediver]

ONE MORE ITEM OF INTEREST...


- 13% of the divers would have survived had they not been clipped to their search line via a carabiner or had they used a "quick release snap shackle" and been able to bail out of the entanglement. The International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists is strongly encouraging public safety divers to use "quick release snap shackles" when attaching search lines to chest harnesses so with one hand, they can release should an emergency arise. (N/A under ice or similar environments)

If WE (the PSD community) want to reduce nearly 20% of the Public Safety Diving fatalities, we need to stop doing "commercial work" and we need quit tying ourselves to search lines via a carabiner only. We know from numerous accidents in the swiftwater community that a rescuer can not release from a carabiner when it is under a "loaded" condition. Charles Hartman (MO), Frank Hut (SC), Art Schumacher (OH), Paul Jolliff (IN) and others may be alive today if they could have taken one pull on a quick release snap shackle and been released from the search line that held them underwater.

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We use locking carabiners to tether our divers to their searchlines so obvoiusly I'd like to discuss this with you (or anyone else). If its unsafe, we'll change it!

I agree wholeheartedly about the commercial work aspect and I also applaud the fact that your organization is trying to improve things but I'm not convinced that the searchline attached to a harness via a locking carabiner is the smoking gun in your stat. If the team has practiced a well thought out method of sending a backup diver down to clear an entanglement in the right way then its a non-issue but if the diver has to rely solely on clearing himself then I would agree that this is an unsafe practice.

Introducing a "quick release" device may actually do more harm then good - if its no good for ice (as you pointed out) why would it be OK for other types of PSD dives? A PSD could get himself into a situation where he cannot reach the surface unaided under normal circumstances (severe entanglement) so it's possibly very similar to an ice or overhead situation anyway. If he can't reach the surface, the back up must be able to reach him. We can't realisticaly follow a "bubble trail" in blackwater so the only way we're going to find him efficiently is the searchline - otherwise were wasting precious minutes doing a second search for the lost diver and very likely get into the same trouble as the primary did during the course of the search. What if the PSD found himself serverely entangled and couldn't reach the surface even after pulling this "quick release shackle"? The backup would need to be extremely lucky to locate him quickly.

As the backup descends he is clipped onto the primary's tether to allow both hands to work and so he won't come off of it - if he merely hangs on to it and lets go for some reason now he must surface to relocate the line - again wasting time. Its quite possible that he will find the source of the entanglement and clear it before he reaches the primary diver. The backup would also be going straight out and not sweeping as the search diver did - highly unlikely that he would entangle as well as he would need to swim into all obstruction first. If he can't clear the line he can work around the obstruction and reclip past the entanglement and continue down.
As the backup reaches the trapped diver they have a practiced touch communication system that will allow them to work through the problem. The back up can reach alot more of the diver then the diver himself can reach. If the back up STILL can't untangle the tangled diver he goes to get him more air - he communicates this to the trapped guy of course, to buy time so as to free him and try other methods. How could the backup return with more air if the trapped diver is free of his tether? He would have to search for him all over again, wasting valuable time (and air!). If they STILL can't free the searching diver's line, the backup will clip himself to the primary so as not to LOOSE him and then they can simiply cut the primary searchline and surface. The backup of course is tethered to his own line that is NOT tangled.
At NO time our any of our divers doing PSD work untethered. This is the only way we can find them fast.

Did any of these cases practice these procedures as I've outlined or even something similar? If so, I'd like to discuss it further as to the cause because I don't believe the locking carabiner to be a factor in making PSD "unsafe".
I'd like to discuss this with anyone else who's willing too; we all want our guys safe!

Mark

 

[BOOM BOOM]

Blades, this is right on target and a snap shackle should be as basic a component as a Knife "the most important tool to a working diver".

 

[Gary D.]

Just a quickie about this as I’m headed out the door.

Never use a QR under the ice or major overhead environment. In the same breath never tie in solid in current or the bulk of other dives. You never know when you may need to cut lose.

But, as an example, should a diver be say 100’ out in 80’ of water. Then at around 50’ out the line gets entangled in a rock crevice, tree debris or anything that could snag the line preventing its movement. The diver has a problem and tries to surface but can only get to 50’.

Now if there is much pressure on the line the diver will not be able to undo the connecting device and make it to the surface. A knife or knives are not always the answer as they could be lost, dropped or just not available for use.

The back-up diver may take quite a while, in a situation like that to get through the entanglement and to the diver.

In training both sides are always cool, calm and collected. Sure the adrenaline is pumping but nothing like a real gone to crap fast scenario.

There are lots and lots of pro and con to both sides. 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.

Just some of my thoughts.

Gary D.

 

[BladesRobinson]

"...if its no good for ice (as you pointed out) why would it be OK for other types of PSD dives?"​

Your question is reasonable and we discussed that point during the analysis of the PSD line of duty deaths (LODD).

13% of the PSD fatalities involved situations where divers were held underwater by their search lines and drowned. Had these divers been able to release from the search lines, most (if not all) could have reached the surface safely. We also identified some fatalities that would have likely occurred even had the diver used a "quick release snap shackle," because their hard wired comm system was attached to the Full Face Mask (FFM). There were no High Use Connectors (HUC) to allow the comm system to easily disconnect (Frank Hut, SC). That is why the last paragraph in my previous statement also endorses the use of HUCs on FFMs.

We recommend the use of "quick release snap shackles" in all dives other than "ice" and "similar environments" for the following reasons:

• 
  In the cases reviewed, where the divers were held underwater via search lines and drowned, these PSDs could have reached the safety of the surface had they been able to quickly bail off of their search line.

• When diving under ice, bailing off of the search line is likely NOT a good option because there is no safety at the surface, only ice. In this instance, we believed that the divers best chance for survival was rescue by his back-up diver and prompt resuscitation at the surface. If the primary diver in distress is not at the end of his search line, and he has "bailed," then a longer search follows and the chances for a favorable outcome diminish considerably.

I want to mention one other thing as it relates to the idea of having the backup diver clipped onto the primary's tether during an emergency.

The following is from an official NIOSH investigation of a Public Safety Diving fatality...

... He then began to reel in the search line to go back to the buoy and felt two tugs on the other end of it. Shortly after, he heard a loud scream which sounded like it was emitting through a mask. He quickly reeled the line in and found the victim frantically screaming. The screaming lasted for approximately 10 seconds. Note: It is believed that the victim could have been entangled in the search lines at this time, because he was located on the end of Diver #3’s search line. Diver #3 grabbed the victim from behind and attempted to calm him down.

Diver #3 stated that he was able to calm the victim for approximately 5 seconds before the victim started thrashing around and frantically screaming again. As Diver #3 attempted to locate the victim’s weight belt to release it, the victim tightly grabbed around Diver #3. Diver #3 was able to break free from the victim and calm him again for a short period of time. Diver #3 then reached again for the weight belt, and the victim began to scream and thrash around. The victim grabbed around Diver #3, restricting his movement. As Diver #3 successfully broke free from the victim, the victim knocked off Diver #3’s facepiece, which contained his air source. Diver #3 was able to locate his facepiece and re-don it...​

In this situation Diver 1 perished, but the narrative ACCURATELY describes what happens when a diver gets into deep trouble. Many of us have heard similar stories of recreational divers doing the same, pulling the regulator from the rescuer, thrashing wildly around, pulling the rescue down, etc. Our medical training explains the chemicals that cause a change from parasympathetic to sympathetic control and elicits one of three reactions: fright, flight or fight. We know how gross motor functions take over and this explains why many divers, when they are in full blown panic, can not release their weight belts. That is a "fine motor skill," not a "gross motor function." When a diver is out of air and he believes he is about to die, we can not count on him to put a clenched had on his chest, tap on his second stage or make the "out of air" sign described in the RSTC hand signals. The victim's eyes are going to be wide open (if we can see them) and he is going to grab anything and everything to get air!

Reading the NIOSH narrative above, had Diver #3 been clipped to the same line as Diver #1, how many fatalities would we now be talking about?

If Diver #3 had not been able to "break free from the victim" do you think he would be able to replace his facepiece? Many in the industry believe that the Diver #1 would have killed Diver #3 had the diver been clipped to Diver #1's search line. Forum readers can draw their own conclusions...

Please know what I am quoting here is REAL WORLD FACTS. Other "systems" may sound good on paper, they may have been taught in a convincing fashion in a classroom, but do they REALLY work?

Sound research on human behavior has been done. John Carney and Fred Jackson have published an excellent book called "PSD Survival." Their conclusions are facts.

You know I have biases based on my affiliation with a training organization. I believe you have similar biases based on an affiliation with another training organization. As a professional I am not going to "bash" a competitor but I will encourage you to learn facts and draw your own conclusions.

If you believe carabiners are safer and quick release snap shackles are dangerous, you have a right to your opinion. If clipping the safety diver to the same line as the victim is good, you have the right to believe that. I can only hope your opinions are based on sound research and facts.

As George Santayana said in 1905, If we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it...


Safe diving!

Blades Robinson

 

[BladesRobinson]

One more point, for clarification...

As it relates to the number of PSDs whoo may have saved themselves had they used a "quick release snap shackle," we were only referring to those divers whose search lines were fouled on the bottom preventing the PSD from reaching the surface.

We do NOT support the idea that the primary diver would release his search line (via the "quick release snap shackle) if his tank valve became entangled by fishing line. That would certainly be counter productive!

Additionally, we did not include "ALL entanglements" into this statistic. Only the ones where the search line was the PRIMARY cause for the diver not being able to reach the safety of the surface were considered.

This leads to another point...

Some believe entanglement is the primary cause of death for PSDs. That is not supported by the data collected by Dive Rescue International.

10% of the fatalities happened on the SURFACE! This indicates that divers are unable to release their weight belts, inflate their BC's, retrieve & clear their regulators, etc.

9% of the fatalities were PSDs doing "commercial work" outside of the scope of public safety diving, 39% were in the "training mode," another 39% were in the "recovery mode" and only 13% occurred in the "rescue mode." In the "training" and "recovery" modes, when divers have the most time to plan their dives, 78% of the PSD LODDs occurred.

In the "training mode" many of the divers had not yet mastered the fundamental skills needed to conduct the training. In some cases the skills had not been performed in the safe confines of a pool.

According to the data, the leading causes of PSD fatalities are divers having poor SCUBA skills and not having adequate skills to do the job they were tasked with.

There are numerous instances where divers had not received a basic skills review in the 12 months prior to the training accident and tragically, there are instances where PSDs had fantastic training but made mistakes.

One victim had 22 years of diver training and diving experience. He had received extensive diver rescue training with certifications including the International Rescue Instructors Association, Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Ice Diver, PADI Dry Suit Diver, National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) Master Scuba Diver and Fathom Diver, Scuba Diving International Public Safety Diver and Rescue Diver. This victim unintentionally ventured too far from his entry point and ended up under ice. He was not planning an ice dive but he ended up under an ice shelf after getting disoriented underwater. A tragic loss...

Another PSD was an experienced diving instructor with more than 22 certifications issued by 8 SCUBA training agencies. His highest level of certification was "Trimix Instructor" and he held this certification by both IANTD and TDI. He drowned during in recovery operation for a drowning victim in 212 feet of water. The diver had accidentally utilized a wrong set of dive tanks that were filled with 36% NITROX. When the diver reached the drowning victim he went into oxygen convulsions. This diver had numerous certifications. He was qualified and had considerable experience diving to extreme depths. He made a tragic mistake.

 

[BladesRobinson]

I just want to make certain I cover my bases here as I don't want the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists to be held out as "rogues" in the PSD community...

I can tell from the earlier post that our suggestion for using "quick release snap shackles" is not embraced by all. I understand.

Furthermore, our organization does not believe it is going to resolve every situation where a search line is fouled on the bottom. What we do want though is an opportunity for divers to have sound options available to them. It is apparent that using knives and cutting shears (fine motor skills) when the diver is beginning to panic does not work in every situation. "Lack of a cutting tool" was never cited as a factor in any of the PSD "entanglement" fatalities we researched.

When "$#!t hits the fan" we believe divers should have quick options that will likely save their lives. Certainly, all divers should be trained in risk/benefit analysis and understand the "pros" and the "cons" for every system.

As it relates specifically to the "quick release snap shackle" we believe 13% of the PSDs who drowned, because their search lines became fouled on the bottom, would be alive today had they had an option and they had released the search line system.

From the LODD data, we believe not every diver will be able to activate the release on the snap shackle. We also believe divers are going to continue to make mistakes. Some may hook into the system improperly, some may release out of the system at inopportune times, some may be fouled in their search line, fishing lines and nets (at the same time).

This recommendation will NOT correct EVERY situation but...
We strongly believe the benefits of using a quick release snap shackle strongly outweigh the risks of using a carabiner only.

 

[BOOM BOOM]

First off I don't think any one regards International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists is to be held out as "rogues" in the PSD community.

I can see the barrier to utilizing the snap shackle has more to do with misunderstanding what is does and or previous training that conflicts with ideology of self rescue and self sufficient diving practices that may have been buried in the context of the course for some.

Blades , again this is important information I would be interested in how this is being trained or presented in the curriculum. Please PM me and I will for sure see ya at DEMA

 

[LaBlkH2Odiver]

Great information thanks.

 

[BOOM BOOM]

for those who are wondering or just for FYI , a snap shackle is most commonly released by pulling on approx 6 inches of line made of a crown knot and a back splice. Its used to attach the umbilicals ( air,pneumo,comms) to the harness for protection of the divers neck and quick release in an emergency, ie line geting stuck or pulled by other force underwater or above.