NAUI Master Scuba Diver 186 Rescue and Emergency Procedures establish positive buoyancy. Do everything possible to prevent the diver from losing consciousness and sinking while maintaining your personal safety. If the diver does sink before you reach him or her, swim to the spot where the person disappeared from view, then surface dive straight down and try to reach the diver. If you are unsuccessful; surface, look for others to assist you, call for assistance, and try again. Without wasting time, try to take a “fix” on your exact location while you are catching your breath between dives. Remember to stay calm and care for your own personal safety. Assists If you go to the aid of a diver in distress and are successful in getting the diver buoyant, your work will be much easier. Typical problems are divers that have on too much weight or either fail to inflate the BC or have a malfunction. Only two additional steps are involved: 1. Get the diver to rest, breathe deeply, and recover. Do not insist that the diver breathe through a snorkel or regulator until they have overcome their respiratory distress. Be sure to coach them to exhale completely as they breathe. There will be a tendency to inhale and unconsciously hold in each breath. 2. Assist the diver to shore or the boat. If necessary, use the transport techniques you learned in your previous diver training courses, such as the do-si-do (figure 6-6). Maintain eye-to-eye contact with the person you are assisting and reassure them periodically. Act in as calm a manner as possible. This will do much to reassure and avoid embarrassing the distressed diver. Recovering a Submerged Victim The paramount concern for an unconscious, non-breathing diver under water is to get the individual to the surface (figure 6-7). Establish buoyancy for the diver by removing the weight belt, or inflating the BC slightly, if necessary. Hold the diver’s regulator in place during the ascent. It is not necessary to tilt the victim’s head back, as the risk of pulmonary barotrauma is minimal in an unconscious diver. Expanding air will escape from an unconscious person regardless of the head position. It is only difficult to get air into a person who is unconscious. Pay attention to your proper ascent rate so that you minimize the risk of injury on ascent. In-Water Artificial Respiration At the surface, get the diver buoyant and in a horizontal position, and then call for help. If the person is wearing a wet suit and the weight belt has been discarded, additional buoyancy may not be required at this point. Avoid excessive inflation of the victim’s BC, as this often interferes with your efforts to ventilate the distressed diver. Make sure that you are buoyant as well. If you are wearing a weight belt, it can be discarded at the first opportunity after the victim is at the surface and buoyant. However, some rescuers prefer to retain their own weight belt to improve their swimming position. Remove the diver’s mask. Your mask should be retained for better vision in wind or seas and in case you have to dive down to recover equipment or a diver who might have slipped from your hold. Open the diver’s airway and look, listen, and feel for breathing. Often this action is all that is required to allow a person to breathe on their own. If the person is not breathing, turn the head toward you and drain any water from the mouth. Look FIGURE 6-6. TIRED DIVER TOW
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