In light of the recent incident (I don't want to discuss it and hoping not to get slain over this post) it has got me thinking about safety for myself and others when diving, not so much in a comp scenario, but regular rock hopping.
I was thinking of "what would my fellow divers do if something happened?" I.E something like the recent incident, SWB, boat hits diver etc... the list goes on.

For instance,
hypothetically, myself and a mate are diving, something happens to me and I have driven. does he know where my car keys and mobile are to call for emergency or have to drive???

is it worth ditching the weight belt straight away?

what location do we tell emergency?? (the big tree 2k's east of Portarlingon???)

The point I'm trying to get across is. what checklist can we have BEFORE GETTING IN THE WATER! so if something does happen, we can react fast and effectively..

five minutes of clear communication pre dive could make a huge difference.

This is not taking into account first aid and as always any help is good help

thoughts?

i recon thats a mad idea mate, i would like to see that aswell!

if something happend to my dive buddy i dont really know what to do.

drag him to shore bolt n get my phone and call 000?

_________________
Forever falling through the water column

good stuff smhendrix for trying to get the ball rolling on the topic in a positive and constructive manner. I have also been having a really good think the past few days about safety in the way i do things in a dive. I know there have been a few stituations i've been in which could easily have gone very wrong for example, just last weekend diving in very poor vis with two people i had not met before that day. We were all within a spear flights length of each other at times close to rocks trying to get some sweep. I was keeping an eye on where the other two guys were before i'de go in for a shot at the fish but could have easily gone wrong. In that situation It would have been best if we each just had 5 or 10 minutes at a time in the spot without having to worry about where your dive buds might be. And also that way they can watch your back if you get smashed on the rocks.
Another precaution i take regarding speargun safety is I don't have the gun loaded while i'm going through surf and there's a chance that if i get smashed i may let go of the gun or have it jab into me. The same goes when exiting.
I can recall a couple of times when i have gotten almost all the way out of the water before unloading and realised that was a bit stupid!
I hope that some Forums will put up some kind of detailed safety guidelines they use for club and non club members to look at and think about for when we go spearing. But maybe its not my place to ask that since i'm not a paid up member of a club, but i am a member of the spear fishing community..

cheers

leigh

_________________
Do you know what really makes me smile? Facial muscles.

In thinking safety, here are a couple of good places to start
http://www.auf.com.au/PDF%20Files/CODECOND_.pdf
http://usfa.com.au/node/42

thanks south! thats exactly the kind of stuff i've been looking round for. It would be great if there could be permenant link to these for people to look at perhaps in the links section on the main page.

_________________
Do you know what really makes me smile? Facial muscles.

Any chance you can squeeze that in Kurt?
Thanks champ

Very good idea smhendrix! Blinky i do the same when going out through the surf. What about boats? I've raised my dive flag high as, but some boaters (especially summer boaters and don't get me started on jet skis) don't have a clue what anything means and will nearly run you over. Do they not think? Can we take there rego and dob them in? Any thoughts?

JJS, one of the things that has come out of Sundays accident is an incident report form. This will be put on the website for people to report incidents including near misses. Genuine reports of nearly getting run over may be valuable ammo in future projects increase awareness of dive flags etc...
You can also report them to the local police if they broke the law. If the same offenders keep popping up, something might get done.