Lesson 7
Boating Diving Safety
Learning Objective
By the end of this topic, you should be able to answer these question:
Safety and Emergency Equipment
Just as local laws and regulations stipulate local rules of the road, boat ownership requirements, and crew and captain qualifications, they stipulate minimums for safety equipment aboard a boat. Beyond that, a dive boat has equipment requirements that may not be required by law, but may be standard practice in the local dive community.
There are eight pieces of basic safety equipment that you’ll typically find on dive boats. For legally required equipment, check with your local boat regulating agencies, such the websites listed earlier.
1 – PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices)
Personal Flotation Devices (a.k.a. life preservers) are the most basic piece of boating safety gear that keeps you afloat if the boat sinks or capsizes, or if you must abandon ship due to fire.
Local regulations stipulate the number and type of PFDs required, but in most areas, the absolute minimum is one wearable PFD for each person on board
In addition, buoyant cushions, life rings and ring buoys are highly desirable, and in most areas at least one throwable flotation device is required on vessels longer than 5 metres/15 feet. Note that in most areas, your BCD does not qualify as a PFD.
Besides having wearable PFDs, everyone on board needs to know where to find them and how to use them. This is usually part of the crew briefing prior to departure, so be sure to listen. PFDs are typically stowed so they’re out of the way, but must obviously be quickly accessible in an emergency. Most PFDs are easy to use, but the time to be figuring out how is not when you’re about to step overboard!
2 – Fire Extinguishers
A boat is one of the worst places to have a fire for the simple reason that there’s no place to run except over the side. This is why crews take fire safety (including restrictions on where and when you can and can’t smoke) very seriously.
Despite this, not all vessels are required to carry fire extinguishers, but this is primarily because fire is highly unlikely on some boats. It would be unreasonable to require a fire extinguisher on a sea kayak or a sailboat that has neither an engine nor a generator.
On the other hand, any vessel that has an engine and carries combustible fuel (i.e., the vast majority of boats you’d be diving from) should have at least one fire extinguisher.
Because a boat is made of solid combustibles, has flammable fuels and also has an electrical system, most boats carry A-B-C rated extinguishers..
Fire extinguisher classifications may vary from country to country. These are the ones rated for all three types of fires. Fire extinguishers should be mounted in the open near likely fire areas (such as the engine), but far enough away that you can retrieve them safely.
Fire extinguishers require periodic inspection and servicing, or replacement for the single-use type. In the event of a fire, it’s useful to know the best way to use an extinguisher for the type of fire.
For a solid combustible fire (fabric, cloth, wood, etc.), spray the extinguisher directly at the base of the fire. For fuels or liquids, surround and cover the flames, using the extinguisher to separate the fire from the fuel. In case of an electrical fire, disconnect the power. Although this stops the immediate cause of fire, you may still need the extinguisher because electrical fires often trigger combustible solids or fuel.
3 – Sound Signaling Devices
On most larger vessels, this is the ship’s horn. On small boats like inflatables, you may use a whistle, though there are horns as well. Sound signaling devices are important because they’re required according to the rules of the road in given circumstances, as well as to alert other boats much as you do with an automobile horn.
Because they’re used in navigation, horns are nearly always triggered from the wheelhouse or bridge – any place where there’s a ship’s wheel. On small boats, the whistle or other device stays within easy reach.
4 – Visual Distress Signals
Local regulations commonly stipulate what types of visual distress signaling devices must be aboard. Typical ones include distress flares, smoke flares, meteor rockets, flare guns, distress lights and signal mirrors. They must be in serviceable condition (as in the case of flares, which have a marked service life). In many areas, vessels above a certain size must carry a minimum of three pyrotechnic (flare) devices.
Typically, visual distress signals are stored with emergency supplies, though some like lights are general purpose tools as well and may be stowed elsewhere.
The Emergency Signal Mirror
In an emergency situation, you’ll ideally have a “proper” signaling device, but failing that, remember that during the day anything that is shiny enough to reflect sunlight will work. A piece of aluminum foil, a large dive knife, the face of a mobile device, a mirror from the boat’s head, a shiny plate or a highly polished metal pan from the galley, or anything similar can work. At night, a dive light or a camera strobe – the bigger and more powerful the better – may work to attract attention if there’s nothing else available.
5 – Bilge Pump or Bailer
All boats take on water as a normal part of operation. Not only does water come aboard due to waves and running off of wet divers, but it comes in small amounts through, for example, the propeller shaft through-hulling fitting with inboard engines. The worst case is when very rough water or a hole in the hull allows water to come in at a rate that could sink the boat.
All boats carry some kind of bilge pump or bailer, and again, local regulations may stipulate the number and type required. A small boat like an inflatable may require nothing more sophisticated than a small bucket, but larger vessels usually have electrical pumps and/or hand pumps.
You usually find the bilge pump switch near the wheel, and most larger vessels have automatic triggers that pump excess water when it rises to a certain level in the bilge.
Most boats also have one or more manual bailing devices in case of a power failure, and in the case of a big leak, so that manual bailing can supplement the motorized pumping until emergency repairs are made.
Portable bilge pumps and pails are usually kept with emergency supplies. Manual pumps that are installed are typically accessed below deck (near the keel where the water will be), and you may need to remove deck covers to reach them.
6 – First Aid Kit.
Regulations usually require commercial vessels to have first aid kits, and it’s a good idea for any dive boat, private or chartered. Most will have basic first aid supplies including bandages, dressings, tape, antiseptic ointments, sunburn lotions and water, with tools such as medical scissors and tweezers.
Diver specific items include having a rescue breathing mask for rescue breathing, as well as vinegar, hot compresses and (in some regions) antivenin for marine life related injuries.
Most boats keep first aid supplies in a sealed, moisture proof plastic box either below deck or in the wheelhouse. On charter boats, the crew will usually tell you where to find first aid supplies during the boat briefing.
To learn more about first aid in diving and nondiving medical emergencies, see the PADI Rescue Diver Manual or eLearning. It’s recommended that you complete the PADI Rescue Diver, PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider and the Emergency First Response Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (first aid) courses.
7 – Oxygen Equipment
Emergency oxygen has become the standard dive community practice for a diving emergency related to suspected decompression illness (DCI). This is not a boating regulation, but one specific to diving.
The recommended oxygen system for use by lay rescuers in diving emergencies is the non resuscitator demand-valve, which delivers 100 percent oxygen to the patient. The system should also have freeflow oxygen for aiding unresponsive or weak patients.
You’ll typically find the oxygen system in a sealed plastic box (usually green or orange) with other emergency and first aid supplies. In situations involving very close to shore in very small, wet boats (e.g. sea kayaks), both oxygen and first aid are not kept aboard (no room and would quickly suffer water damage) but at a nearby, quickly accessible shore location.
To learn more about oxygen equipment for diver emergencies and its use, see your PADI Instructor about enrolling in the PADI Rescue Diver course.
8 – Marine Radio
Most vessels larger than a runabout or kayak will have a marine radio. Vessels beyond a certain size (usually 3-5 metres/10-15 feet) are required to have a marine radio in most jurisdictions. The captain uses a marine radio for routine communications as well as emergencies.
Before using a marine radio in an emergency, it’s important to know what qualifies as an emergency: a situation in which you or your vessel is threatened by grave danger that may cause severe injury or loss of life. Running out of fuel, a dead battery or another mechanical problem is not an emergency (the captain may request aid via a marine radio, but using routine communications, not the emergency protocols). Since it’s used in routine navigation, you nearly always find the marine radio near the ship’s wheel.
Local areas may designate specific frequencies (channels) for different purposes, but in most areas, Channel 16 is used as the hailing and emergency channel. You never hold a conversation on 16, but use it to contact another party and then switch to another channel for the conversation.
A call of pan-pan means that there is an emergency on board but that, for the time being at least, there is no immediate danger to anyone’s life or to the vessel itself. This is distinct from a Mayday call, which means there is imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself.
In the event of an emergency, go to Channel 16 and say, “Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is (repeat the vessel’s name three times). My position is (give latitude/longitude or bearing from a known point – don’t guess if unsure). I have (state type) emergency. Over.” Listen for Coast Guard or similar authority or nearby vessels to reply. If you hear nothing, repeat the distress call. Be prepared to give more information such as vessel description, location details, more about the emergency, equipment you have available and so on.
If you have trouble reaching anyone by radio, try your cell phone if you’re not far from shore. In some areas, authorities receive more vessel distress calls by cell phone than by radio.
Boat Diving Plan
Although regulations do not require a boat diving plan, it’s a good idea to prepare one before undocking and leaving it with someone responsible. Many charter vessels do this as a matter of routine (especially those operating from a dive center or resort and following a daily schedule), and it’s a wise practice for private boaters.
The plan should outline your planned itinerary, including when you plan to depart, where you’re going, the route you’ll follow, when you plan to be back, and at what time someone should consider you overdue and contact authorities. It should also describe your boat, and list the number of people aboard. If you’ll be within a cell coverage area, put your phone number on it as well.
Sun, Moon, and Tides
On the oceans and even on some large lakes, the tides affect boating and diving. In some places, the tides rise and fall more than 10 metres/30 feet, and vessels can’t enter or leave the harbor at low tide without hitting the bottom. In other areas, tidal variation is minimal. Tides also influence anchoring; you have to leave enough scope for a rising tide, crossing shoals and leaving enough slack when docked to a pier that doesn’t float and therefore rise and fall with the boat and tide.
As you may know, gravitational pull from the moon and sun causes the tides by pulling a bulge of water up in the seas. The bulge travels throughout the day as the Earth rotates, causing daily tidal fluctuations.
The bulge travels throughout the day as the Earth rotates, causing daily tidal fluctuations. Depending upon the regional geography, some areas have a single high tide and low tide daily (called diurnal tide ), others have two highs and lows (called semidiurnal tide ), and yet others have two highs and lows of unequal strength (called mixed tide ).
The relative height of the high tide and the degree of difference between high and low vary seasonally depending upon the relative positions of the sun and moon. The moon has the most effect on the tides because it is much closer to Earth, but the sun can strengthen or somewhat neutralize its effect, depending on their positions.
Spring tides have the highest tides and the greatest variations. At these times, the sun and moon align so they pull together and maximize the tidal bulge. Neap tides occur when the sun and moon sit at roughly a 90-degree angle. In this case, the sun’s pull cancels out the moons to some degree, reducing the tidal variation and the height of high tide. Throughout the 28-day lunar cycle, the tides continuously transition from spring to neap tide and back.
To learn more about tides, see the Aquatic Realm section of the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving.
QUIZ
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