BSAC

• Homepage
• Joining BSAC
• Member Services
• Diving Resources
• Diving Safety
  • Introduction
  • Safe Diving
  • Safety Talk
  • Safety Talk 2008
  • Safety Talk 2007
  • Safety Talk 2006
  • Safety First
  • Boat Preparation
  • Shed the Lead
  • Safety Checks
  • Solo Diving
  • Depth Limits
  • Risk Assessment
  • Continued Training
  • Winter Diving
  • Social Event RA
  • Boat Safety Guide
  • Safety First Programme
  • Diving Incidents
• Branch Resources
• Training
• BSAC People
• BSAC News Centre
• Events
• BSAC Shop

Search BSAC

BSAC Talk - Safety First

 

Register for Updates To make sure you recieve a direct notification of each months topic for SAFETY TALK as well as other information about important BSAC changes, new BSAC services and BSAC benefits please register for the BSAC MAILING LIST

---

Introduction
The British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) - The Governing Body for the sport of sub-aqua diving and snorkelling in the UK - takes the safety of all divers very seriously. This section of advice and guidance is designed to gather together a wealth of safety advice and to promote and develop 'best practice' for divers regardless of affiliation or location throughout the world.


SAFETY TALK
Safety Talk was introduced as a specific section within the membership bulletin 'BSAC Talk' in March 2006. The objective at that time was to further spread general safety messages for the benefit of BSAC members and all divers who could access the information. This section of the Website does not just repeat that information but expands on the key themes and develops and illustrates them further.

If you find the information here useful please tell others so that we can spread the message.

If not or there are specific issues that you would like to see covered in addition then please tell us? divesafe@bsac.com

Jim Watson
BSAC Safety & Developement Manager

---

SAFETY TALK - MARCH 2006


Easter, subject to the vagaries of weather, traffic jams and family commitments, is seen by many divers as the point marking the start of the new diving season. Spring tides, the combined effects of a winter layoff and excesses of Christmas, new or recently serviced (or not) and perhaps unfamiliar kit and generally rusty skills are offset to a certain extent by an enthusiasm for the challenges and opportunities for a new season and the longer daylight hours reducing the SAD effect. The discernable effect of all this is a predictable spike in the Incidents that occur in the early part of the season each year. The spike moves dependent on the weather so that poor weather over Easter often moves the spike to the May bank holiday weekend.

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics" and I'm sure none of us wishes to become a statistic and want to avoid any unpleasant trips to the Chamber or worse.

Now is the time to be starting, if you haven't already, to prepare for the challenges of the new season. Those of you who have braved the cold of the winter and continued to dive can be smug in the knowledge that this is one of the best ways to prepare but please read on.

The BSAC Safety First programme provides a wealth of guidance and advice in preparing for the challenges of a new season and includes suggestions for refresher training and some of the points to consider before returning to the type of diving you were doing at the end of the previous season. Even if you have maintained dive fitness over the winter by diving regularly you still need to consider the tidal implications of moving out of the quarry and back to the sea or increasing depths. That winter warm water break diving may help keep skills fresh but consider the differences between buoyancy control with a wetsuit and with a drysuit? And what about the extra insulation restricting movement and the loss of dexterity with those nice thick gloves?

 Safety First can be found at Safety First Section

It is aimed at both Branches and BSAC Centres to offer dedicated programmes to all members and divers and for individuals to develop and refresh their own skills.

Think SAFE - Dive SAFE

Jim Watson
BSAC Safety and Development manager

---

More Detail on the Safety First Programme

The Objectives of the 'Safety First' Programme are:

• To place the emphasis on the prevention of incidents rather than on the rescue skills needed to resolve them
• To reduce the number and seriousness of diving incidents
• To continue to promote safe diving practices to all divers, irrespective of affiliation, both in the UK and abroad
• To ensure that divers can enjoy their sport whilst providing them with a programme of continuous education, with an emphasis on safe, enjoyable diving.

Safety First Toolkit

The Toolkit contains a range of resources designed to help BSAC Branches and Schools deliver refresher training to any diver throughout the year, although the focus is obviously orientated towards conducting such training during the early part of each year in the lead up to early season diving starting around the Easter holiday. The pack contains a number of components designed to structure the delivery and make use of the opportunities this training presents.

ScubaWISE Questionnaire This is to help you assess the specific areas which you may wish to work on with other people who may come to you for the ScubaWISE Lesson. Though the questionnaire will help to identify areas of weakness or lack of confidence and you should rightly work on any such areas, you should still attempt to cover all relevant areas during the ScubaWISE Lesson.
	ScubaWISE Pool Lesson Plans The Pool lesson plan gives Instructors guidelines on what to cover during the ScubaWISE lesson. These are NOT detailed plans but guidelines on the areas to be covered. The amount that can be covered will vary depending on the skills and level of experience held by students undertaking ScubaWISE. For example a Dive Leader who has had a significant break from diving would quite reasonably be expected to complete Core skills and rescue skills and work on a wide range of the ancillary skills. On the other hand BSAC Ocean Divers and PADI Open Water divers could realistically only be expected to cover the Core skills. In assessing the needs of non-members use the questionnaire to help determine the main areas to work on.
ScubaWISE Theory Lesson Plans This Lesson Plan outlines some of the key points to cover in what is essentially a revision lecture. It focuses on both personal and equipment preparation and highlights the main areas which help ensure a safe and successful start to any diving season. Thumbnails of the model overheads are contained within the notes for easy reference. The notes are not exhaustive and you should feel free to modify them to reflect more closely the type of diving your club actually undertakes.
	ScubaWISE Overheads The original PowerPoint presentations are available as a download from the Safety First section of the BSAC Website (click on the slide opposite to download)
Safety First Leaflets The leaflets contain concise advice on a variety of Safety aspects which reinforces the points made through the ScubWISE Lessons. They should therefore be made available to anyone undertaking the ScubaWISE Lessons.
	Benefits of Branch Membership Lecture Notes & Presentation The ScubaWISE Lessons are applicable to ALL Divers and we would encourage Branches and Schools to offer them to anyone who is interested. You are at liberty to charge a suitable price for this service, or use it to attract new members. One compromise would be to charge a nominal fee but offset this against the Branch levy should they subsequently join. Since every Branch in the BSAC varies quite considerably in what they offer, this Lesson Plan only suggests the areas which could be covered. The plan includes examples of overhead foils which you could use but clearly you would need to alter these to reflect the services you offer. The original PowerPoint presentations are available as a download from the Safety First section of the BSAC Website (click on the slide opposite to download)

---

Any suggestions for further items for inclusion would be welcome and can be made to divesafe@bsac.com

---

 

Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Site Index | Contact the Webmaster