COVID, MEDICAL FORM & GAS SHARING

There have been some obvious changes to many of the procedures we took as “normal” because of the pandemic, and we were quick to make changes to standards to accommodate for these changes. The most critical were modifications made to AIR SHARING (OOA drills), and the S-DRILL.

AIR SHARING DRILL: DONATING THE LONG HOSE

Widespread concerns surrounding Coronavirus and COVID-19 infection, have demanded we make changes to some of the procedures we use when teaching RAID programs. None is more pressing than the sharing “air,” drill that instructors and students demonstrate during confined skills training, and during open-water certification dives.

In simplified terms, this drill involves several related skills: buoyancy control, buddy awareness, responding quickly to a demand, and the skills involved in getting a known working source of “air” to a distressed diver. The classic procedure is that one diver plays the role of an OOA diver and gives her buddy an out of air (OOA) hand signal, her buddy donates his spare regulator second stage, and the diver simulating OOA pops it into her mouth and breaths from it.

Under present circumstances, this method presents a real opportunity for cross-infection, even in chlorinated swimming pool water, and certainly in freshwater or the open ocean.

 

In the interests of diver and instructor safety, and until further notice, RAID is asking its members to follow this revised protocol for S-Drills and in-situ OOA simulations.

• Drill Begins
• Diver one simulating OOA signals her/his buddy “Out of Air!”
• Dive two presents an alternate second-stage regulator
• Diver one takes the offered alternate, switches from his/her primary regulator to his/her backup second stage, while gently purging the donated second stage to check it is working. N.B. she does not put the donated second stage in her mouth at any time, but simply holds it.
• When the drill is completed (after horizontal swim, ascent, etc.) Diver one returns the donated regulator to his/her buddy

This method adequately demonstrates all the component skills of an OOA/air sharing drill including having the OOA diver switching regulators without exposing either diver to elevated risk of cross-contamination.

In addition, a new Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire that takes COVID19 into consideration has been released. It was created by the Diver Medical Screen Committee in association with the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, DAN (US), DAN Europe, and the Hyperbaric Medical Division, University of California, San Diego, and has recently been formally adopted by DAN, WRSTC, RSTC, RSTC Europe and the Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society.

The form can be found in your “My Documents” section on the RAID website and is presently being prepared for the website where it will form part of RAID’s paper free initiative.