Straight Talk from PADI CEO: Holding Ourselves to the Highest Standard

Dive Emergency Preparedness

Emergency preparedness is a crucial element in preventing accidents and a powerful defense tool. By Al Hornsby, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs Any dive accident is a tragedy for the victim and family, for the dive personnel supervising the dive and/or responding to the emergency, and for the dive center and/ or dive boat involved....

Required Paperwork

Questions often come up about the need and purpose for the various instructional documents used during PADI educational and experience programs. Because administrative paperwork is so important – and may serve a number of quite different purposes – a quick review is periodically very useful. (more…)

When striving for diver safety, especially when supervising novice divers, maintaining control and accountability of the divers in your care is unquestionably the highest priority responsibility you have as a dive professional. Despite the direct supervision requirements clearly outlined in the Instructor Manual, PADI does receive several incident reports every year which involve the loss of control of Open Water Diver Course students or Discover Scuba Diving participants. Sadly, the difference between a problem (such as sudden panic during a mask clearing exercise with an attempt to bolt to the surface) that is immediately responded to and resolved, and an event that turns into an injury, may be little more than a momentary lack of attention by the PADI Professional. While control incidents (such as a student diver bolting toward the surface) do occur during skills performance, because instructors are typically in a direct supervision role evaluating the skill, they are in close proximity and able to readily respond. During ascents and while exploring the dive site during training or guided tours however, the difficulties in keeping all students or participants in clear sight at virtually all times are magnified. In a PADI Open Water Diver course, exploring the dive site during training is the first slight loosening of control that the students experience, particularly as they learn independent buddy-team dive skills. Especially in conditions with silt or generally limited visibility, a few metres/feet of distance can make the simple difference between students/participants being constantly observed or completely out of sight. While effective control can be more difficult in such conditions, it can be achieved with proper attention, focus and positioning. The appropriate use of certified assistants provides additional control in these circumstances. Maintaining control and accountability of the divers in your care is the highest priority responsibility when supervising novices such as Discover Scuba Diving participants and PADI Open Water Diver course student divers. This means not only recognizing the value of using certified assistants, but also carefully considering placement, whether it’s you alone, or you and your assistants. It also means being aware this is not a static process; adjustments to your approach may become necessary at any time during a dive, such as when either conditions (such as worsening visibility) or circumstances (such as a student or participant who is tending to wander or fall behind) warrant. Perhaps the most important need of all is your constant attention and focus. It’s far too easy to become complacent on dives at a familiar dive site that you may have conducted 100 times; even a momentary lessening of focus can have – and has had – tragic results.

Taking Control

When striving for diver safety, especially when supervising novice divers, maintaining control and accountability of the divers in your care is unquestionably the highest priority responsibility you have as a dive professional. (more…)

PADI Asia Pacific Career Opportunity: Quality Management Consultant

We are excited to announce that we have a new career opportunity for a Quality Management Consultant to join PADI Asia Pacific in Sydney, Australia. The Quality Management Consultantwill provide quality and risk management consultation and support for PADI Members within the Asia Pacific region. We are seeking a PADI IDC Staff Instructor as a...

V-Insurance Policies Fully Endorsed by PADI & Approved for International Use

As a dive professional, having adequate insurance should be a top priority. In Rebecca Wastall’s PADI Quality Management Tips article, she notes: “In today’s changing world I don’t think we can ignore the importance of insurance. Make sure you are protected as a dive professional. We live in litigious times and comprehensive cover should be...

PADI course director helping a student

Recognition of Excellence Program: Celebrating the Best of PADI Professionals Worldwide

The Recognition of Excellence Program celebrates the achievements of PADI Professionals, Retailers and Resorts worldwide.

Quality Management Tips from the Field

Throughout 2018, we’d like to share tips from PADI staff in the field on how to maintain and improve safety in your professional diving activities. This month we heard from PADI Territory Director, Rich Somerset: “We are blessed with a career that puts us in contact with the ocean – and the ocean demands our...

New Year Tips from the PADI Asia Pacific Quality Management Team

As PADI Members we all want diver training and certified diver activities to be comfortable and safe. Part of the joy of teaching people to dive and leading certified divers is knowing that we have helped our customer to be more confident and competent in the water. In 2018 we will be bringing you tips...