In this episode of The Dive Locker Podcast we discuss the benefits of analyzing diving accidents with Lessons For Life author Eric Douglas.

Welcome To The Show!

Welcome to The Dive Locker Podcast, the podcast for dive professionals where we bring you the latest in diving industry resources that make you excellent at teaching techniques, risk management and dive business.

At our last staff meeting of our dive program I brought up a news story of a diving fatality in the Florida Keys. Although news stories are not necessarily great sources of information and sometimes lacking in details, this one had some good journalistic reporting behind it.

In this case a lady died while diving a popular deep wreck in the Keys while under the in-water supervision of a divemaster. The details went on to share that it was a four to one ratio – the DM and four divers. And that the signal to go up was given and as the group made their way to the ascent line, the lady disappeared from the group. Even after a few immediate search attempts, she was not found until the next day.

So, as we often do, I read the news article to my staff and they deconstruct the entire case. They start talking about currents and visibility, and proximity of the DM to the divers. What were the buddy teams like? Experience of the divers and certification levels. And of course the overall supervision of the dive.

I’m always so proud as I let my team run with the analysis, but more importantly is when I ask how can we prevent this same thing from happening? Hands shoot up and comments fill the room. They are truly spot on.

What You Get Out of Accident Analysis

This inspired me to share this pro strategy with you. It doesn’t matter what level of diving pro you are, what amount of experience, whether you are independent or part of a dive center or dive team – analyzing scuba diving accidents is actually a great way to keep proficient. for three very clear reasons:

1. This &%$# actually happens
2. You’re more aware of what odd and unusual things can go wrong
3. You understand that it is a series of small events that leads to incidents. And. if you can recognize how little things can progress to big things, then you are a better dive professional.

Now you don’t have to scan the news for news stories about diving accidents. Actually, one of the best resources you can use to analyze diving accidents is to read the Lessons for Life column in Scuba Diving magazine. So today I invited my friend and colleague Eric Douglas the author of Lessons for Life to talk about the column, and the benefits of learning from these actually diving incidents.

---

Episode Sponsor

If you find this show adds value to you as a dive pro and you’d like to help support the show, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It’s only $4 per month – that’s only $1 per episode. When you become a supporter of The Dive Locker you’ll get a shout out from me on the next episode after you join. You will also be listed on the Patrons of Dive Locker Podcast webpage. And you will receive 10% off any ScubaGuru Academy course at the Patron level, and 20% off at the Rockstar level. And of course my undying appreciation for helping support the show.

Thanks For Listening!

That’s it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, that way you’ll be notified of new episodes as soon as they go live and please leave a rating. Items talked about in this episode can be found on the show notes Page at scubaguru.com . There you can also click the microphone and leave us a comment. Thanks again. We’ll see you in the next episode. Safe diving and take good care of my friends.

Podcast (thedivelocker): Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS