AD 2016 Q3

FROM THE
SAFETY STOP
PERSPECTIVES
ENGAGING OUR
DIVING COMMUNITY
By Bill Ziefle
Since DAN® was founded in 1980, our
purpose has been clear: to provide
resources to assist divers in need. Over
the years we’ve evolved and developed
different approaches to helping divers,
and we’ve dedicated considerable effort
to researching how to prevent dive accidents.
For years DAN medics and researchers have collected
and analyzed case reports to identify common factors
in dive accidents. This work has been summarized in
DAN’s annual dive accident report since 1988. Based
on these data, DAN has created educational materials
designed specifically to address the most common
hazards divers face. Knowing our responsibility did not
end there, we then strategized about how best to make
these resources available to all divers. Our solution: Get
out into the field and share our information with those
on the front lines of recreational diving.
Much of DAN’s early outreach efforts were directed
at medical professionals and first responders. DAN
organized workshops and conferences on topics such
as decompression sickness (DCS), dive fatalities, flying
after diving, DCS management in remote locations,
technical diving, nitrox, rebreathers, patent foramen
ovales (PFOs) and immersion pulmonary edema (these
workshop proceedings can be found at DAN.org/research/
workshops). DAN has given hundreds of seminars,
presentations and lectures to recreational divers at dive
shows, dive club meetings and other events around the
world. We welcome opportunities to share our knowledge
and expertise, and we encourage you to contact DAN
(DAN.org/email) if you need a speaker for your event.
We also recognize the vital roles of dive professionals
and dive operators in diver safety. It is critically
important to provide these key players with the tools
they need for incident prevention and management. We
recently set about revitalizing our field representative
program. Our field representative based in Durham,
N.C., spent months on the road visiting stores and
instructors in high-volume areas to meet face to face,
discuss their dive-safety-related concerns and provide
them with the resources and materials we’ve developed.
Starting in
California and Florida
— California has more
divers than any other
state, and Florida
has the most dive
accidents and fatalities
— our field rep met
with more than 300
dive professionals at
more than 200 facilities. We provided our new Health and
Diving reference materials to every facility and showed
them how to access DAN’s digital resources. Our goal is
to build and strengthen alliances through which we can
better provide safety messages to new divers.
To ensure consistent contact with these key players,
DAN hired additional field representatives who live
and work in the areas where the most diving takes
place. Having DAN staff in the field who are attending
local events, giving presentations and advocating dive
safety will help us achieve our goal of reducing the
number of dive accidents and fatalities each year. We
believe our physical presence in these vital areas can
enhance the entire community’s safety awareness.
DAN Research recently developed a series of
presentations for the largest two-day recreational diving
event in the world: Florida’s spiny lobster sport season
(“mini-season”). Thousands of divers participate in this
event each July, and, on average, two die every year. Our
presentations cover the relative risks of diving during
mini-season, compare lobster hunters with nonhunters
and highlight important factors hunters should consider.
DAN staff gave presentations throughout southern
Florida in an attempt to reduce incidents and continue
our engagement with the community.
We know there’s no better way to connect with
people than meeting them where they are, face to face.
Through our community-engagement efforts, we will
continue to promote safe diving, improving the sport
for every diver.
For more information on DAN events in your area,
visit DAN.org/Events. AD
10 | SUMMER 2016