Program Spotlight: New DAN E-Learning Courses

Photo by Stephen Frink

Are you a dive professional or dive boat operator searching for new ways to increase your safety, a fill-station operator committed to the quality of your breathing gas or a diver interested in becoming more safety-conscious? If so, DAN’s new e-learning programs are for you. They cost nothing, and you can complete both courses in about an hour.

Our experts in hyperbaric and underwater safety designed the DAN Assurance of Breathing Gas Quality and DAN Dive Boat Safety Best Practices e-learning courses to meet two prevalent needs in the dive industry: the needs for improved dive boat safety and for more effective prevention and management of contaminated breathing-gas incidents. These comprehensive courses are especially useful for professionals who put divers in the water, and they enable dive operators to refine the safety of their operations in two crucial areas.

Quality breathing gas is something every scuba diver relies on to remain healthy and alive, and breathing contaminated air underwater can be catastrophic. Ensuring the quality of divers’ breathing gas remains an essential safety concern, and it is imperative that all people who fill cylinders understand how they can prevent or manage incidents that result from contaminated air. By taking this 30-minute course, compressor operators can improve their ability to identify, prevent and respond to breathing-gas contamination incidents.

Another critical concern for scuba divers is safety on dive boats. In 2018 the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued a marine safety alert to remind owners and operators of recreational diving vessels, which the USCG does not regulate. The alert also stressed that licensed masters of commercial vessels that transport divers and passengers are ultimately responsible and accountable for the safety of those passengers. To help boat captains, dive professionals and operators understand and implement the USCG’s recommendations, we created the DAN Dive Boat Safety Best Practices e-learning course. This course not only helps boat operators maintain safe and compliant operations but also serves to remind them of important aspects of maritime safety as they relate to diving, making it a useful program for boat-diving operations all over the world.

Designed for maximum convenience, these courses include resources that dive operators can use to help them in every facet of their operation and from anywhere. To begin your course, log in to DAN.DiverELearning.com and go to the “Available” tab to find the course that interests you.

Dive operators can easily integrate these courses into their existing dive staff training. When staff complete these programs, it can enhance their operation’s safety and illustrate the dive operation’s commitment to safe diving. Even divers who are not running a dive business can benefit from these easy-to-access courses, giving them the knowledge needed to gauge the safety of an operation and alerting them of risks to mitigate when diving unguided.

© Alert Diver — Q1 2020