As we see lockdown easing and thoughts turn to diving what should we be thinking about?
Firstly what does the easing of lockdown mean – as I have seen written it doesn’t mean that the virus has gone away and we are now safe, it just means the NHS has the capacity to handle the second wave. We must therefore be very mindful that we ensure that we make our diving as safe as possible for those around us and especially the emergency services.
As we move to diving under the new normal these are some of the steps we all need to consider:
- As always the responsibility for all diving activities lies with the Club Diving Officer, if they do not authorise your dive then you cannot dive under SAA guidelines.
- All depth limits return to the levels documented in the SAA Guidance. However part of that guidance is that you build up your depths gradually and incrementally, we have all had a period of diving layoff so keep your dive plans conservative and gradually work up to deeper dives.
- Review your Risk Assessments with a level of added focus, assume that not everything is fully back to normal. Check things like the availability of chambers and is the nearest lifeboat station available and not closed due to the volunteers not being available.
The SAA has been working closely with the BDSG in developing extra guidance to support all divers at this time together with assisting in the production of the new BDSG website, this should be live within the next couple of days.
Steve Orange, National Diving Officer
