Diving team

A diving team is a group of people who work together to conduct a diving operation. A characteristic of professional diving is the specification for minimum personnel for the diving support team. This typically specifies the minimum number of support team members and their appointed responsibilities in the team based on the circumstances and mode of diving, and the minimum qualifications for specified members of the diving support team. The minimum team requirements may be specified by regulation or code of practice. Some specific appointments within a professional dive team have defined competences and registration may be required. There is considerable difference in the diving procedures of professional divers, where a diving team with formally appointed members in specific roles and with recognised competence is required by law, and recreational diving, where in most jurisdictions the diver is not constrained by specific laws, and in many cases is not required to provide any evidence of competence. In recreational diving there may be no team at all for a solo diver, a dive buddy is the default arrangement, a three diver team is fairly common for technical diving, and a major technical dive or expedition may have a fairly complex team including surface support personnel made up to suit the requirements of the dive plan.…

Professional diving

Professional divers operate as a team. The minimum composition of the team is usually specified by some combination of national, federal or state regulations, standing orders, codes of practice, and operations manual.

Recreational and technical diving

In mainstream recreational diving, team diving is the exception. Support functions are carried out by operators such as dive boat charter operators, dive shops and dive schools, for their customers, on a commercial basis. Duty of care may be specifically limited by terms of use and waivers. Groups of divers may also associate in clubs and informal groups to finance or otherwise provide mutual services such as boats and filling facilities, and may dive together in informal groups. Club members may provide training and dive leadership to other club members, often on a not-for-profit cost sharing basis. Technical divers may form teams where this is appropriate to support each other for complex or hazardous dives. This can include surface co-coordinators, equipment handlers, gas blenders, support and standby divers, and any other function that may seem useful to them. The team members are not usually contractually bound and have no duty of care beyond what they may have voluntarily assumed and that of ordinary citizens. The divers remain responsible for their own assumption of risk and are not under the direction of anyone other than themselves and the dive plan by group consensus. Technical divers may also refer to team diving where a group of three divers assume the roles of dive buddies to each other. Primary dive team or diver is the diver or group of divers who will take part in the main dive. For example, the diver or divers who intend to explore new territory in a cave, penetrate a wreck, or attempt a depth record. Support divers may place and recover s, meet returning divers at per-arranged depths, provide support to decompressing divers by relaying communications with the surface team, or assisting divers in the water. Stand-by divers are support divers at the surface ready to go to the assistance of team members in the water when requested Surface co-ordinators are team members who keep track of team activities and assist in scheduling and recording the dive and support activities.

Team redundancy

In complex dive operations such as deep cave penetrations, technical divers will often use team redundancy to limit the amount of equipment carried. The concept is that equipment that is important to safety, but has a very low risk of failure does not have to be backed up by every member. Dive computers are team redundant when two divers each have one if they both dive the same profile on the same gases, one spare mask is considered sufficient, as they very seldom break or get lost, fin straps, cutting tools and the like may be also be considered sufficiently backed up if one spare is carried by the team. Backup gas may also be shared, as may a backup scooter. Sometimes the team members will each carry backup. Backup lights and gas are commonly carried by each member, but are available to be shared if necessary. As a general rule, once team redundancy has been exhausted and no spares are left, the dive is turned, so sometimes more spares are carried so that a single item failure does not prevent the operation from being completed. Much of the DIR philosophy is based on facilitating team redundancy. To be effective, the redundant team equipment must be available to any member of the team in time to safely mitigate the loss of function of the original item.

Freediving

Buddy teams

The buddy system is recommended by freediver training agencies and schools for risk management by freedivers as they are at risk of hypoxic blackout for various reasons, and a competent buddy following recommended procedures may be able to intervene successfully. The buddy system is a procedure in which two individuals, the "buddies", operate together as a team so that they are able to monitor and help each other. Appropriate training is recommended as the most effective way to develop the necessary competence, which includes both knowledge and practical experience, and understanding of personal limitations. Certification is provided as evidence that a diver has been trained and was assessed as competent within the scope of the certification. It is also necessary to be sufficiently fit for the planned dives at the time. Training in first aid with CPR is also recommended. Three-diver teams can also be effective in freediving.

Competition safety

Following the deaths of two freedivers in competitions, AIDA has a system set up for monitoring and if necessary, recovering competitors who lose consciousness underwater. As of 2022 the incidence of adverse events in depth competitions varies between 3 and 4%, This rate is considered relatively low and is expected during competitions where divers push their breath-hold limits. Almost all of these divers are successfully assisted and recover completely. There is a much lower incidence of more serious injuries due to the established safety system at the competitions.

Safety divers

The safety team is usually made up of volunteers, but in major events may be paid staff. The work can be challenging as many dives are done in a day. The safety diver will descend in time to meet the competitor during their ascent, and monitor them for the rest of the ascent. They will intervene if necessary, typically by securing the airway and swimming them up to the surface. There is usually a rotating team of safety divers to ensure that they are not overtasked. Each competitor is monitored by a team of several breath hold safety divers. The first will meet the diver at somewhere around 1/3 to 1/4 of the target depth, usually with a maximum of 30m The second will meet them about 10m shallower, and a third will be on standby in case of an emergency. In case of a deeper incident, the competitor is clipped to the downline, which can be rapidly raised by the surface support team, which includes a medical support group.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1333295217 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

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