Pre-Dive Safety checks

[ScubaFreak]

Do you have a defined Buddy check that you go through before every dive? Regardless of Certification Agency, what is your routine before entering the water with a buddy, and be honest...do ya always do it or do you think it's just for beginners?

'Cos to be honest, i've seen many a buddy pair/group hit the water without even knowing how many's in their group...

Ladies and Gentlemen...The polls are open

Scubafreak

 

[Roz Amos]

It isn't so much that its just for beginners, its that if I am diving with a familiar and experienced buddy and know their gear pretty well, i don't feel the need to go through the whole buddy check thing - I always check my own air is on, my weights are on, my inflator hose is connected and the BC is OK, and is usually a casual comment between us before hitting the water re whether your air is on etc - we tend to assume individual responsibility for this!

If I am diving with a new buddy I tend to watch them gear up, and do at least an abbreviated check with them both ways, notably air is on, BCD inflates, weights are on, where releases are and that tanks are securely on.

 

[wcl]

Absolutely. Every time. Every dive. Immediately prior to entry, too, not depending on recalling that I did check this or that when I set the gear down 15 minutes before donning.

Even though I am new to diving, I am not new to risk management.

I have learned through assorted risk exposures (skydiving, safety management in a hazardous environment -- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory--, and 5 years as a NYC Auxilliary Police Sergeant, for example) that your safety routine has to be rock solid and completely consistent. Getting hurt because of skimping on that is boneheaded, pointless rolling of the dice.

Rigor on this front is in fact more important over time and with more experience: familiarity breeds sloppiness all too often. I have seen it many times. Very sad.

Do the predive check. Wear the safety glasses. Check and lock the circuit breaker. Check the radiation counter. Check your radio. The gun is loaded and off-safety unless you prove otherwise. Check your ripcord. Do the predive check.

"Died stupid" is a sucky epitaph.



Cheers,
Walter

 

[ScubaFreak]

I feel this could be an interesting thread.... :boxing_sm

 

[wcl]

I feel this could be an interesting thread.... :boxing_sm

But it will get more dull over time. People who don't do the safey checks will self-select out of the sample pool, and the answers will skew towards doing the checks.




That's not even entirely facetious: Industrial saftey studies show that very trend ...

Heh.

-- Walter

 

[RiverRat]

I always have my own set of checks I run. And depending on where I'm diving (local w/buddy or tropical w/unknown buddy) I run checks with said buddy. But bottom line is I look out for me first. After all, if I screw up I'm no longer a decent buddy to the other diver either.

My main checks:
1: Valve open all the way
2: Air on and breathe several breaths on both 2nd's, watch needle (to ensure valve fully open)
3: low pressure inflator connected and working
4: check for leaks, o-ring, tank o-ring etc.
5: general stuff, tank tight on backplate, mask strap, fin straps, computer ok etc.

Even religiously checking this stuff I've jumped in without weightbelt (harmless) once and have fixed many leaky o-rings etc. Little things like this could one day spell big problems on a deep dive.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I dove with the same buddies for a long time and managed to get a little complacent on the buddy check and it came back to bite me on the backside on a dive where things weren't going quite right from the time we stepped on the boat. I'd had to undo my bc strap because it was in the way when I tried to secure the tank to the boat's tank holders and I was aftraid I would forget to re-secure it. My o-ring was bad but just leaking a tiny bit so I had turned the air off or so I thought, it was actually still about 1/4 turn on because I had gotten distracted while shutting it down. Once we arrived at the dive site I did remember to re-secure the tank but a proper buddy check would have revealed that my air wasn't on, just cracked open enough to breathe until I hit about 25 feet then no more air. I was so busy cursing myself (while at 25 feet and OOA) for getting out of my normal buddy check routine that I didn't even signal my buddy that I was out of air. I tend to talk with my hands especially when I'm ticked off so he's watching me gesture wildly. He said he didn't know what was wrong but figured if I needed air I would ask. I finally reached back and turned my air on then continued to curse myself and gesture. I calmed down after about a minute and I motioned him over to make sure I had gotten the tank all the way on and we continued the dive.

I've done other dives with new buddies who are also instructors and I tended not to insist on a very thorough dive briefing/buddy check on those dives because "Hey, we're both instructors." Invariably this led to some sort of communication error and I was really wishing we had done the complete buddy check.

I've headed back in the direction of practicing what I preach to my students. Why? Because when I was trained both as a diver and instructor I'd never done a dive without a proper buddy check. I've done enough screwed up dives just in the last year that would have been so much better if we had done a good buddy check to understand why they are valuable.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[OE2X]

Always. It's become habit now.

Dive plan is discussed.
Type of back gas is made known to each dive partner.
How much back gas.
Size of tank.
Look over my buddies rig before they enter the water.
Bubble check.

 

[MookieMoose]

Given that buddy checks don't take very long, and that 2 heads are better than 1 as a general rule I always do them, even though I almoast always dive with the same buddy (wife). The cold waters of the great lakes are not a place you want to be when things are not working properly - especially so when the problem is because you set it up wrong. I also believe that little bit of familiarity with your buddy's gear can make an enormous difference in a rescue situation. Not having to spend time hunting for their releases, or figuring out in the heat of the moment how to work their inflator could be a lifesaver.

Cam

 

[bubblelogist]

We are doing it on every dive, since the dive where my husband came into water with his drysuit wide open... :11: