8 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

If you've ever been on a liveaboard you know the DIVE SAFETY part of the briefing seems to go on and on...for what? So you can know where the fire extinguishers are...the PFD... (what's a PFD anyway?)...the O2 kit etc.

And if you are on a day boat or a land based dive boat you rarely hear much of a dive safety briefing at all.

So what do you think?


1. Are they important?
2. If so what should they contain to be valuable or useful?

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

It's always best to be prepared for an emergency, so I think YES, boat briefings are important.

I have dived with dive ops that give a thorough briefing every morning and again in the afternoon if there are new people who join the boat for afternoon dives. I have also dived with dive ops that never give a boat briefing....these are usually the boats that operate in 3rd world type places, or the crew has no idea what that green box under the hatch is for (or don't know the O2 bottle is empty!)

Boat briefings should include:

1) safety equipment on the boat, where it is located, and who should employ it in case of emergency (I've been polled on boats before and admitted I have current CPR, first aid, and O2 administration certs). This includes radio (or cell phone with dive shop number handy), flotation device location, O2, first aid kit, life rafts, etc.

2) Boat rules, such as: keeping walk paths on the deck clear of gear; how to exit & re-enter the boat safely for the conditions; proper use of float lines or tag lines if they're deployed; which is the mask or camera bucket; etc.

3) Emergency procedures such as getting divers back on the boat asap when a situation requires the boat to depart in a hurry. Imagine someone with a severe DCS hit or bad bite from a barracuda and they're bleeding profusely...... and most of the group is still diving. It's imperative the diver gets medical attention ASAP. If you don't know the boat's procedure for signalling it's divers to return to the boat, you won't know the boat making all the noise is after YOUR attention and what it means. Either you'll get left behind, or you'll delay the hurt diver getting the medical attention they need.

4) Whether smoking is allowed on the boat, and where it is allowed - don't leave it open for debate!

5) Where drinking water is at, with an admonition to drink it constantly while not in the water

On a liveaboard, it takes a bit longer to go through everything as it's not only your dive boat, but your hotel as well and they discuss schedules for dining, diving, showers, why the toilet won't flush immediately, etc. But, on a day boat this can all be done in 5 minutes or less, as the boat is casting off.

My 2psi.....

[peterbj7]

It's important that people on the boat know the information, and understand both it and its significance. That said, just regurgitating it in a monotone drone, especially to the same people who heard it yesterday, makes most people turn off and can be counter-productive. On a large boat such as a liveaboard all the information should be contained within a single poster that should be posted somewhere where everyone can see it and refer to it. Then the briefing should refer to the poster and bring out the highlights. With a smaller day dive boat that isn't feasible, and although a generic poster can be posted inside the dive center it needs to be amplified and applied to each individual boat by the tour guide (who may be the boat captain or dive guide). It's important that all guests listen to the briefing questioningly, as I've been on boats where glib reference was made to "the first aid kit" or "the oxygen unit" when one or both wasn't actually present, or if present wasn't serviceable.

I've also been on and/or heard of boats run by unscrupulous operators where nothing that isn't directly visible has been taken care of. Examples - a boat that's uninsured, unlicensed or in some way unseaworthy, bilge pumps that don't work, an engine fuel filter that doesn't, a shot battery, or even a boat with holes in the hull. If a boat looks uncared for, beware. Others include no working radio or equivalent (a popular one in Belize is to rely on a cell phone, but to have either no charge in the battery or no calling credit, and no contact number in the event of an emergency). A fire extinguishes that is either depleted or is too small or the wrong type to use. A relatively large dive boat here caught fire, then blew up and sank, all because there was no engine room fire extinguisher. Crazily the replacement boat also doesn't have one.

So a boat & dive briefing is important and it's important you listen and understand, but it's also important you use your eyes and your brain.

[scubaski]

PFD or Personel Floatation Device aka LifeVest. See all you need to know about PFD here:
http://www.uscg.mil/...lection.asp#faq

[scubaski]

The 3rd world dive op's seem to skip over the Boat Safety briefing ie: where's the lifevest's,fire extingishers, mayday call and on what radio channel. My guess most non-US dive boats I've been on don't have a marine radio and probably depend on Cell Phones. I would like to know where the PFD and fire extingisher and FirstAid/ O2 kits are on all my boat rides.

[WreckWench]

PFD or Personel Floatation Device aka LifeVest. See all you need to know about PFD here:
http://www.uscg.mil/...lection.asp#faq

Stan I really did know what it was but when you spew alphabet soup around you always want to be sure that others know too!

So what do you think should be in a good dive safety boat briefing?

[scubaski]

A dive op needs 2 distinct briefings.

#1-Boat safety before you cast off from the dock that can be very short and sweet. Where's the PFD and fire extingishers and area's that visitors should stay away from when underway such as moving from boat deck to forward near bow to catch some sun.

#2-Dive Briefing of flora and fauna which can incooperate any dive safety or dangers on that perticlur site and a recall procedure ( as if that can every be accomplished) in the event of a emergency.

[ScubaTex]

I think liveaboard boat safety briefings are important, for the reasons Tammy eluded to, it's your floating hotel. Agreed, boat briefings can become painful [MV Spree], where they seem to go on ad infinitum. Whereas, day boat briefings are short and to the point, you're not going to be on the boat that long. Regardless, the main reason is, identical to all the trees we've killed signing Liability Releases, CYA[for the operator that is].

Bill

[ev780]

A dive op needs 2 distinct briefings.

#1-Boat safety before you cast off from the dock that can be very short and sweet. Where's the PFD and fire extingishers and area's that visitors should stay away from when underway such as moving from boat deck to forward near bow to catch some sun.

#2-Dive Briefing of flora and fauna which can incooperate any dive safety or dangers on that perticlur site and a recall procedure ( as if that can every be accomplished) in the event of a emergency.

Yeah, That!!!

I tend to listen more intently than most to the safety briefing. Nature of being a paramedic I suppose. Murphy was an optimist!!