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or 35 years DAN® has been providing
support to divers in need regardless of
location, time of day, type of diving or
nature of the problem. DAN is always
available with expertise and resources
to handle a wide variety of water-related
emergencies. Whether a recreational diver shows signs
of decompression sickness or a public safety diver
sustains an injury during a rescue, DAN will help that
diver get the medical care he or she needs. The body of
knowledge and experience DAN has cultivated over the
years is available to support the full spectrum of divers,
including recreational, technical, breath-hold, scientific,
public safety and even commercial and military divers.
Divers today are going further than ever before.
Recreational divers, empowered by new technologies
and advanced training, are venturing into the world
of technical diving. The population of technical divers
is small but growing. These divers often experience
extreme environmental conditions, diving beyond
recreational boundaries and often outside well-
tested limits. Although these practices are becoming
normalized with time, these divers face many questions
that are not fully answered by current diving research.
Recently, researchers and divers presented on known
safety issues at Rebreather Forum 3, a meeting DAN
co-sponsored. Recreational, professional and military
rebreather divers discussed the latest developments and
evolving best practices. Safety was the key theme, and
participants learned about the most common causes of
rebreather incidents and fatalities in hopes of reducing
their future occurrence. Educational seminars explored
incidents, forensics, equipment design and testing,
advances in medicine and physiology, training and
operations. Future workshops will continue to explore
these issues.
A resurgence of interest in freediving, both recreationally
and competitively, can be seen in the astounding increases
in diving depths and breath-hold times achieved. These
changes in performance have far-reaching implications for
human physiology and safety. DAN continues to monitor
incidents and fatalities associated with breath-hold diving
and has organized research studies to deal with the
specialized nature of the sport.
Scientific divers are another important segment of
the diving community. Many scientific diving programs
rely on DAN’s suite of first aid courses to train their
divers. Developed by physicians and subject experts,
DAN’s Diving Emergency Management Provider
course provides training in first aid, CPR, neurological
assessment, emergency oxygen administration and
hazardous marine life injuries.
Most recently, DAN has begun to explore ways to
support the police officers, firefighters, emergency
services personnel and volunteers who are our public
safety divers. This diverse group of individuals handles
emergencies in some of the most hostile conditions
encountered by divers: inclement weather, zero
visibility, high-velocity currents and waters polluted
by chemicals and biohazards. While their emergencies
may be different from those of recreational divers, they
too suffer short-term and long-term effects from their
diving activities. DAN is now collecting data from public
safety diving incidents and using it to develop new
initiatives to minimize health risks to those divers.
Regardless of the type of diver you are, DAN is working
to make the diving you do safer. Through innovative
research designed to improve our understanding of diving
injuries, improved dive-accident management protocols
and enhanced insurance products to cover the cost of
injuries, DAN is here for all divers.
Last year alone DAN’s medical services department
received 15,793 inquiries and managed 3,460 medical
cases for injured divers. DAN is available to members
and nonmembers alike. More than half the queries
received via the DAN Emergency Hotline come from
nonmembers, so if you know divers who are not DAN
members, encourage them to join.
AD
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SPRING 2016
FROM THE
SAFETY STOP
PERSPECTIVES
SOMETHING FOR
EVERYONE
By Bill Ziefle