Diver Behaviour and Competence
Hazard | Consequences | Cause | Avoidance and prevention |
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Inadequate learning of critical safety skills. | Inability to deal with minor incidents, which consequently may develop into major incidents. |
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Inadequate practice of critical safety skills. | Inability to deal with minor incidents, which consequently may develop into major incidents. |
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Overconfidence. | Diving in conditions beyond the diver's competence, with high risk of accident due to inability to deal with known environmental hazards. |
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Inadequate strength or fitness for the conditions |
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Peer pressure | Inability to deal with reasonably predictable incidents in a dive. |
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Diving with an incompetent buddy | Injury or death while attempting to deal with a problem caused by the buddy. |
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Overweighting | Difficulty in neutralising and controlling buoyancy.
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Carrying more weight than needed. Recreational divers do not usually need more weight than is needed to remain slightly negative after using all the gas carried. Professional divers may need to be heavy at the bottom to provide stability to work. | Establish and use the correct amount of weight for the circumstances of the dive, taking into account:
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Underweighting | Difficulty in neutralising and controlling buoyancy.
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Not carrying sufficient weight. Divers need to be able to remain neutral at 3m depth at the end of a dive when the gas has been used up. | |
Diving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or with a hangover |
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Use of drugs which alter mental state or physiological responses to environmental conditions. | Avoid use of substances which are known or suspected to reduce the ability to respond appropriately to contingencies. |
Use of inappropriate equipment and/or configuration | Muscular cramps | Use of fins that are too large or stiff for the diver |
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Lower back pain | Use of heavy weightbelts for scuba diving |
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More to be added (several items) | To be added | To be added |
Read more about this topic: List Of Diving Hazards And Precautions
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