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Public safety diving is

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on contex ...

conducted as part of

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education ...

and search and rescue. Public safety divers differ from recreational, scientific and commercial divers who can generally plan the date, time, and location of a dive, and dive only if the conditions are conducive to the task. Public safety divers respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and may be required to dive in the middle of the night, during inclement weather, in zero visibility "black water," or in waters polluted by chemicals and biohazards.

Specialized skills

In addition to basic diving skills training, public safety divers require specialized training for recognizing hazards, conducting

risk assessment Broadly speaking, a risk assessment is the combined effort of: # identifying and analyzing potential (future) events that may negatively impact individuals, assets, and/or the environment (i.e. hazard analysis); and # making judgments "on the ...

s, search procedures, diving in zero visibility, using full-face masks with communication systems, and recovering evidence that is admissible in court. Some of the water they are required to dive in is

contaminated Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination ...

, and they may be required to wear vulcanized drysuits, with

diving helmet A diving helmet is a rigid head enclosure with a breathing gas supply used in underwater diving. They are worn mainly by professional divers engaged in surface-supplied diving, though some models can be used with scuba equipment. The upper part ...

s sealed to the suit, and utilize surface supplied air. At times, the decontamination process that takes place out of the water can be longer than the dive time.

Public safety diving personnel

In the US, many public safety divers are volunteers, but career law enforcement or fire rescue personnel also often take on these additional responsibilities as part of their occupation. Firefighters will find the diving equipment has similarities to the full face masks and breathing apparatus worn in smoke filled environments. Law enforcement personnel are also trained as public safety divers because of their training and experience in handling evidence and presenting evidence in court.

Health and Safety aspects

Jurisdiction

United States

Depending on state legislation, public safety divers in the USA may fall under state or federal occupational safety and health legislation. Federal legislation applies where there is no relevant state legislation and the divers are employees diving as part of their occupation. If they fall under federal legislation they are exempt (excluded) from specific requirements of ''29 CFR Part 1910, Subpart T, Commercial Diving Operations'', only during diving activities incidental to police and public-safety functions the purpose of which is to provide search, rescue, or public-safety diving services. The exemption was written to include the ability to deviate from safe diving practices under limited conditions where compliance would be impracticable due to time constraints or the possible consequences of failing to perform the task overwhelm the risks taken using available facilities. This exclusion does not apply during training, recovery operations, searches where there is no reasonable probability of rescue of a living person or there is no real and immediate public safety hazard. The specific federal legislation does not apply to volunteers where there is no employer/employee relationship. File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 12434 1253208764629 1352347 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 14539 1260599469392 483590 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 14539 1267863370985 1526841 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 14539 1267863450987 1061841085 815988 4713601 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 14539 1267863490988 3807190 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team 18440 1213165771464 7426884 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team ake Ronkonkona ice dive 2062 1087267216194 1061841085 286798 5740 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team ake Ronkonkona ice dive 2062 1087267736207 1061841085 286809 8744 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team ake Ronkonkona ice dive 2062 1087267896211 1061841085 286813 9897 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team ake Ronkonkona ice dive 2062 1087267936212 1061841085 286814 191 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team scuba ice rescue training with Lifeguard Systems 19766 1313047500560 6822668 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team scuba ice rescue training with Lifeguard Systems 19766 1313050620638 1061841085 936707 6417002 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team surface ice rescue training with Lifeguard Systems 19766 1313051020648 1061841085 936717 8272827 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team surface ice rescue training with Lifeguard Systems 19766 1313051380657 1061841085 936726 3483645 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team surface ice rescue training with Lifeguard Systems 19766 1315871691163 1779998 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team training dive Lake Ronconkoma NY 181741 1762650740360 7577872 n.jpg File:Nesconset FD Scuba rescue team training dive Lake Ronconkoma NY 180650 1765991783884 7852979 n.jpg

South Africa

In South Africa, public safety diving is within the scope of the Diving regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993.

Environmental impact

In most cases public safety diving itself has little environmental impact. The diving operations generally have a specific purpose, and when that purpose is accomplished, the operation is terminated. In other cases the purpose of the diving operation may be to mitigate a specific environmental threat, like a spillage, and the methods used are chosen to minimise the overall effects of the incident. In some cases there is some adverse effect on the environment, but the goals of the diving operation may be deemed more important than the harm risked, as in the case of rescue operations. Where there is risk, it is often to the diver or diving team.

References

External links

More information on public safety divers, their training, and their equipment.
ERDI – Public Safety Diver TrainingPSDiver Magazine Web SiteInternational Association of Dive Rescue SpecialistsDive Rescue InternationalTrelleborg - VikingKirby Morgan Dive SystemsNaui Worldwide Public Safety Diver Certification

US Department of Labor OSHA Instruction: Directive number: CPL 02-00-151
{{Underwater diving, prodiv Underwater work