Divers Alert Network promotes safety through every available means for the benefit of the diving public. DAN has made available, at no cost, numerous tools to help divers enhance their safety while diving. As a dive professional, you lead by example, empowering your students to take responsibility for their well-being and conduct themselves in a manner that inspires their peers to do the same.
Would your students benefit from online resources to complement your in-water instruction? DAN presents monthly webinars on its YouTube channel: YouTube.com/DiversAlertNetworkTV. In addition, DAN offers a course called Prepared Diver, which is an instructive and engaging video course that focuses on mitigating and avoiding the most common causes of dive accidents, available at DAN.DiverELearning.com.
Being prepared with an emergency action plan (EAP) is essential for successfully mitigating an emergency. DAN has designed e-learning programs to help both divers and dive pros prepare EAPs so they’re ready for anything they may encounter during a dive trip. Give yourself and your students the ability to become better prepared for emergencies by developing an EAP by taking one of DAN’s emergency planning courses, available at DAN.DiverELearning.com.
Successfully identifying hazards before they lead to injuries or losses is essential to the success of a dive operation. Owners, operators, staff, and dive professionals utilize DAN’s HIRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) program for just this purpose. Focusing on realistic and pragmatic assessments of potential risks with serious outcomes, this program provides self-assessment tools and resources to enhance awareness of vital safety issues and how they can be addressed.
As a complement to the HIRA program, DAN has created a guide that dive operators can use to some of the risks involved in running a dive operation and what can be done to mitigate them. Called Safety Tips for Dive Operators, it highlights minimum safety standards for multiple aspects of diving operations. It also provides a baseline for refining safety protocols by offering dive safety officers and other dive professionals a proved approach for assessing safety and correcting improper practices to prevent incidents and limit liability.
If you are a dive boat operator, consider taking DAN’s Dive Boat Safety Best Practices e-learning course. Designed to help captains, crew, and dive staff improve the safety of their boat diving operations, this course will help you and your colleagues ensure compliance with the recommendations of the 2018 USCG Marine Safety Advisory.
Additional assets exist for DAN Professional Members in the form of downloadable publications, diving reports, advisories, checklists, and other useful documents. Take the time to further your dive safety education by taking advantage of these free resources at DAN.org/Safety-Prevention/Operation-Safety/Operational-Safety-Resources.