Knowledge, skills, and comfort are your biggest allies in this prevention. In depth knowledge of diving physiology, equipment, environment, and personal abilities allows you to understand, and minimize, the risks associated with the dives that you plan. Well practiced skills allow you to execute your dives comfortably and are essential in order to handle unforeseen problems in a calm and controlled manner.
If a diving accident does occur, knowledge of how to manage the response can, in some cases, mean the difference between life and death. Training in First Aid, CPR, and Oxygen Administration allows the diving accident victim to have immediate care while waiting for local emergency medical services (EMS). Having an Emergency Action Plan for each dive, that everyone knows how to implement, saves time in implementing emergency care and in contacting local EMS.
The links on the left will direct you to pages dealing with various aspects of the Prevention and Management of Diving Accidents, and accident management projects the Chamber has worked on. This section is a work in progress. If there are topics that you would like to see included please contact us at: chamber@usc.edu.