What constitutes an emergency?

[tbone1004]

My friend Carol posted this on the NFSA facebook page and I think it's warranted to discuss here

"What constitutes an emergency? Theoretically in cave diving we should have no "emergencies" because we have - by accident analysis - supposedly thought through every possible adverse event and have a contingency action to account for it and survive. So if something "happens" and we take corrective action are we having an "emergency" or are we just terminating our dive earlier than planned using an alternative procedure?. If one of the engines on my two engine airplane quits am I having an emergency or just landing earlier than planned - as it flies perfectly well on one engine (The FAA says it's an "emergency" but they have a legal definition formed in an office). Common sense and good practice would suggest that we hold ourselves (or our team) wholly responsible for the assets and training needed to complete our dive either under nominal or "contingency" situations. Does relying on someone elses interpretation and indication of the cave topology ("way out") meet this requirement? I do not have a good solid 100% answer to either question, but I do have a good, solid 100% answer to how I am going to conduct a given cave dive and what I am going to do in any given scenario that I encounter or can reasonably think of based upon my training and experience. When am I having an emergency? If I am how much do I rely on others to help me survive? Is a silt out an "emergency"? I have after all been trained how to deal with zero visibility conditions. In case you had not realised by now this post refers to the "Lamar Peacock Cookie Controversy" and is intended to further thoughtful and insightful discussion - I am not offering a solid opinion or solution as I do not have one yet. In life some people are catalysts for change, some are not. Sometimes change is difficult, sometimes it is wrong, sometimes it is not. The only way we can find out is to explore and discuss, sometimes starting the discussion is difficult, and painful, and clumsy. Remembering that the final best solution or change will probably take compromise - a seemingly ancient and forgotten art in some aspects these days. When commenting to this post please consider if you have something to add or are simply being sarcastic, attempting humor or criticizing without suggestion."

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

I would say an emergency constitutes of anything that may risk the divers / has the potential to escalate very quickly.

For example, recently on a dive with a buddy his computer died on him during the dive at 5 meters depth - NOT an emergency.
Your mask strap was torn off at 30-40 meters depth - EMERGENCY - As it can escalate very quickly and ultimately lead to panic.

Its hard to put a precise definition on emergency (other then the usual Out of air / blown hose etc.) , i personally think we should treat everything seriously under water no matter how trivial it may appear to avoid any escalation or unexpected actions.

Even if your buddy wants to quickly change to his spare mask under water, go next to him and just watch him in the one in a million chance that something will go wrong and he will start to panic.

The best way to handle an emergency is to avoid it in the first place.

 

[swimlikethefish]

In my humble opinion my personal definition of an emergency is: a situation or scenario that without direct intervention, by myself or another, would result in loss of life.

In a risk averse sport such as diving the more training and practice one has the less prone they are to be put into an emergency situation. This is mainly due to Operational Risk Management. You train and practice for the worst case. However, that doesn't implore that even those with proper training are not susceptible to an emergency situation. Being proactive is better than being reactive in my opinion though.

 

[tbone1004]

here's my answer.

There are things that we plan for with protocols in place.
Low on air air share, out of air air-share, lost line, lights out, all of the CCR issues, freeflowing regulator etc.

If any of the above occur and you react appropriately *with or without buddy/s*, then I think your dive is just over early and it was an exciting butt-pucker moment. Will likely get you to be a bit more cautious in the future with pre-dive checks and what not, but it's not an emergency.
When we teach, our team tries to use the term exciting as much as possible for this reason with our students because you don't want them to think that relatively benign inconveniences are a true emergency. Unfortunately the industry doesn't agree with this and calls everything emergency protocols and all of that.

Exciting becomes Emergency when you have to "save" someone. That usually occurs when someone doesn't respond properly to any of the above potential scenarios, or in a much more rare case some other outside influence *think hit on head by boat, goes into cardiac arrest, some sort of wound, a major change in environment like a cave-in, huge storm, etc, etc*.

 

[guruboy]

the post you quote seems to imply that emergencies are a state that you enter and never leave as opposed to simply an event.

If you consider an "emergency" as something unexpected that "emerges" and has "urgency" then an emergency is an event that happens and needs to be dealt with quickly. Once you respond to the emergency, it could be consider "resolved" in a safe manner even if the failure mode persists. Just because you have plans/protocols does not mean it's not an emergency when it happens since unless you follow the plan/protocol, you're screwed (just having the plan/protocol does not save you).

example -
1) regulator failure - someone is now OOA (emergency)
2) switch to AAS (emergency responded to, failure mode persists)
3) end dive (part of plan)

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

here's my answer.

There are things that we plan for with protocols in place.
Low on air air share, out of air air-share, lost line, lights out, all of the CCR issues, freeflowing regulator etc.

If any of the above occur and you react appropriately *with or without buddy/s*, then I think your dive is just over early and it was an exciting butt-pucker moment. Will likely get you to be a bit more cautious in the future with pre-dive checks and what not, but it's not an emergency.
When we teach, our team tries to use the term exciting as much as possible for this reason with our students because you don't want them to think that relatively benign inconveniences are a true emergency. Unfortunately the industry doesn't agree with this and calls everything emergency protocols and all of that.

Exciting becomes Emergency when you have to "save" someone. That usually occurs when someone doesn't respond properly to any of the above potential scenarios, or in a much more rare case some other outside influence *think hit on head by boat, goes into cardiac arrest, some sort of wound, a major change in environment like a cave-in, huge storm, etc, etc*.

I agree to a certain extent , an emergency does not necessarily mean you have to actively save someone or intervene , anything that can lead to serious harm ot escalate very quickly under water is technically an emergency.
How we choose to act on that emergency will most of the times determine the outcome, if its nothing and you just end the dive early or if its something more serious and some body got hurt, these are all consequences of the emergency itself.

 

[boulderjohn]

Years ago I attended a workshop on this very topic. I am not 100% sure I have their terminology exactly right, but I have the main ideas down:

1. If something goes wrong during a dive, it constitutes an incident.
2. Your training should prepare you for any incident that may occur during a dive. You should therefore be able to handle that incident safely and effectively by following your training.
3. If you do not follow your training and do something inappropriate, it can then become an emergency.

Since this is in the Basic Scuba forum, let's look at the most common such incident in basic OW diving, other than a medical event: a diver goes out of air.

An OOA incident is the most thoroughly covered topic in OW training. You are taught to monitor gauges carefully throughout your dive. Current PADI instruction teaches you to monitor your buddy's gas as well as your own. You are taught to stay near to your buddy so that you can share air. You practiced sharing air a number of times. If you failed to follow that training, you are taught to do a CESA, exhaling all the way to the surface. If very deep, you are taught to drop weights so that you will be sure to reach the surface. On the surface, you are taught to both drop weights and orally inflate the BCD to achieve neutral buoyancy. Many divers are further taught now to use pony bottles so that they have an alternate air source with them at all times. Finally, divers are supposed to be taught proper weighting.

With all of that training, going out of air should be an annoying and very embarrassing incident. it only becomes a life-threatening emergency when you fail to follow that training....

....and that is exactly the number one preventable cause of dive fatalities, according to a joint PADI/DAN study a number of years ago. Divers who have gone out of air will too often simply bolt to the surface in a breath-holding panic, causing a fatal embolism from lung overexpansion. In too many cases, divers reach the surface safely but were unable to stay there because they could not inflate the BCD using the inflator mechanism. Thus an incident became an emergency because the diver's response to the incident was inappropriate.

1. The diver did not monitor air supply, and the buddy did not assist in that monitoring.
2. The diver did not carry, was too far away from, or ignored an alternate air source.
3. The diver held his or her breath during the ascent, ignoring training.
4. The diver on the surface did not drop weights or orally inflate the BCD as trained.
5. The diver on the surface was overweighted--on a recreational dive, a properly weighted diver should have no trouble staying on the surface with an empty tank, even with all weights still attached, and should instead have trouble sinking if that were for some reason desired.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I think I agree with what you're saying. If I understand correctly, you're saying that if a misfortune is well planned for, then it doesn't fall within your definition of the word "emergency." Cave divers are wise to avoid using the word because it does no good--it can only contribute to panic if the word is stuck in someone's head.

 

[tbone1004]

I agree to a certain extent , an emergency does not necessarily mean you have to actively save someone or intervene , anything that can lead to serious harm ot escalate very quickly under water is technically an emergency.
How we choose to act on that emergency will most of the times determine the outcome, if its nothing and you just end the dive early or if its something more serious and some body got hurt, these are all consequences of the emergency itself.

I disagree on your mask analogy though. If the diver reacts appropriately, it's a nuisance, hardly an emergency. It only becomes an emergency if something then goes really wrong. What @boulderjohn describes as an "incident", I describe as "exciting", and what Carol describes in her engine failure are all things that have the potential to become true emergencies, but they remain as incident/exciting/contingency, until something happens that makes it a true emergency.

 

[EireDiver606]

Theoretically in cave diving we should have no "emergencies" because we have - by accident analysis - supposedly thought through every possible adverse event and have a contingency action to account for it and survive.

I suppose you are right. I do not have any experience in cave diving but it constitutes the question, does the same not apply towards OW diving?

What constitutes an emergency?

An emergency is a sudden, unexpected, situation that occurs in which you need to address it because it needs immediate attention or there will be consequences.

Is a silt out an "emergency"?

As I said I don’t have any experience in cave diving. I think a silt out can be one of two things:

1. A simple benign hazard which doesn’t really pose much of a risk because there is a current and the sediment will get taken away relatively quickly or if you have good spacial awareness and know exactly where you are in the cave as you have dived it hundreds of times and have plenty of room to maneuvre.

2. A serious issue if you are in a new unexplored passage and suddenly you don’t know where the line and your team is and somehow you get stuck in a restriction and can’t move. Here, it could pose a real problem. (Hypothetical - please don’t criticise)

But I think not only is it about the situation that is defined as an emergency but also about the reaction to that emergency which is the ultimate factor if it is an actual emergency or not.

Example:
1. New uncomfortable diver gets mask kicked off their face and loses buoyancy control while trying to fix their mask back on (if they catch it), they lose communication, may panic and have reg out of their mouth until hopefully buddy helps them.

2. Same situation as above but with experienced diver: reaches to pocket, opens it, puts mask on and clears it all while maintaining trim, buoyancy, and ability to communicate.

1 = EMERGENCY

2 = simple issue that causes no concern.