Diver to Diver (assume hand contact)
OK = 1 Squeeze of hands
Out of air = Hand to regulator (guide backup divers hand to FFM or reg)
Entanglement = Circular Motion (and guide backup diver to area of entanglement)
Penetration = Hand to Chest twice (and guide backup diver to area of penetration)
Surface = guide in upward motion
QUOTE]
As stated this works really well. Many teams simply say "we'll send the back up diver down to see what the problem is" Which is fine if you can see well but in low to blackout conditions the back-up has no way of determining what is wrong without some way to communicate with the diver in trouble - they aren't putting their procedures to the test. If teams actually role play in the pool you'll see what we mean.
Simpily placing the back-up diver's hand in the area or on the body part that has a problem may not get the desired result and things could be made worse if the back-up chooses the wrong action. Sometimes the entanglements and injuries can be too subtle to determine just by touch alone - especially when wearing thicker gloves Also, sometimes theres more than one thing going on ie
- the diver have a leg tangled in fishing line AND have hooks penetrating into his leg; this should change the way you untrap the diver so as not to hurt him more.
The 3 mentioned - OOA, entanglement and injury (may not necessarily be a penetration) are 3 big things that can happen and they're signals are quite unique to one another so confusion is averted. Best of all, it speeds the process up because the back-up KNOWS what is wrong and doesn't have to guess
To add.
1) The diver in trouble should keep his hand on his tether attachment point (biner) until contact is made. That way the back-up diver will know where to find his hand and they can communicate as soon as he arrives and theres no grabbing at each other (it looks kind of like a girl fight otherwise) which can dislodge things (ie regs etc)
2) As soon as the back-up has performed whatever task needed to be done the divers should link their hands together. Again the problem diver keeps his hand on his biner while he waits for 2 reasons - he won't confuse and obstruck the back-up in trying to "help" and the back-up will know where to find his hand to communicate rapidly if something changes.
This way both know they're ready for the next step (hopefully an ascent) and if there is another problem or the intial one is not solved the problem diver can tell the back-up
3)When doing an air exchange. Make sure that you have a co-ordinated process that is the same every time so that both divers know what to do. Simpily going down and "giving him the back-up's pony" is too general. Who releases the pony? Who holds the pony and where? Which hands are used? What side is the best approach?
All of these things that seem trivial on the surface can result in a regulator getting pulled out of the diver's mouth and lost
4) Another important signal is if the back-up can't immediately solve the diver's problem and has to go to the surface for more resources. 3 squeezes of the hand will tell the problem diver that the back-up is surfacing but will be back. It would be pretty distressing to the problem diver if his "help" simpily dissappeared!
5) As others have said, you need to practice these procedures allot to be fast and efficient. The pool is great because you can black out the 2 divers and everyone else can watch. After the scenario, a quick summary from each of the 2 divers about what they thought was going on, what actually was going on and what was communicated can teach the whole team allot
hope this helps
