After the change of host and location of last year’s Joint Service Diving Safety Conference (hosted by RAFSAA at RAF Brize Norton), this year saw JSSADC host and the location revert back to HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, although presumably budget cuts must have meant choosing between heating and tea and coffee, and not both, as the latter was missing this year.
However, as usual JSSADC usual ran a number of skill development courses pre and post conference such as:
· Advanced Diver Theory lessons: 18-19 Mar 19.
· Diver Coxswain Assessment: 18-19 Mar 19.
· ESADS Refresher Course: 21-22 Mar 19.
· Marine Radio Operator: 21-22 Mar 19.
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Picture courtesy of JSSADC
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My only initial observation was of the attendance, or the lack thereof. For some reason this year’s conference had only, as a maximum (based on my estimate figures), half the attendance of previous years. Why? I do not know. Not taking anything away from any of the speakers but this year there were no ‘big’ names, despite Dom’s best efforts. Was that a reason? Were people deployed? Who knows, but hopefully this year was a one off and not the start of a trend.
In terms of freebies, as usual JSSADC had some offerings but this year instead of shiny items, there was an array of charts which were free to a good home. Dom said we could take one of each if we wanted, so I didn’t need to be told twice. I was in early and I ended up walking away with a full collection of Plymouth (inc all estuaries, rivers etc…), Falmouth & Porthkerris (including the Helford River), and most of South Devon and Cornwall. Yes I am that tight!
Below is a bullet point summary of the conference. Like last year I did not need to take a huge array of notes as Dom has kindly uploaded most of the presentations, so a lot of the blurb is my own musings and any Q&A.
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| Picture courtesy of JSSADC |
Opening Brief and Admin (ppt download) – Dominic Robinson (OIC JSSADC)
· Dom welcomed everyone and thanked them for making effort to get here. Notable for those who had travelled (Cyprus, Gib & Wales).
· Cdr Sean Brady from HMS Raleigh also said hello and asked everyone to respect the Phase 1 establishment.
Coronation: A British Warship (ppt download) – Ginge Crook (CI JSSADC)
· Ginge discussed about the ease of accessing protected wrecks.
· He gave the history of HMS Coronation which sank in 1691.
· He showed artefacts from HMS Coronation going into Naval Heritage Centre museum in Plymouth and requested visiting expeds to help with ongoing survey of targets.
For those who have not dived the HMS Coronation before my video of the trail can be found here.
BSAC Developments (ppt download) – Dai Atkins (BSAC National Diving Officer)
No conference in 2018 so the information was new to most people including:
· He mentioned that membership is stabilising with a small amount of growth but still too early to say this is a trend.
· The DTP continues to be developed whilst retaining alignment with international & EU standards.
· He did refer to the possible of a number of new courses, one of which being a DPV course. As a DPV owner and instructor with other agencies I have put myself forward to be part of the team that develops this course.
· Was asked about importance of military members to BSAC and confirmed that we were the single biggest group.
· Q&A.
o Brexit and third-party liability insurance? No change
o Online/PDF c-cards and potential issues? Report them, possible software version errors.
o 88s, any need to update? No, with the potential of computer generated tables. Still valid and forms an understanding of basic decompression principles.
o Is FCD still relevant, and are there any plans to remove? No but like all courses will be updated to keep it relevant.
o Dom reminded the audience that BSAC is volunteer organization and things take time.
Croatia Diving (ppt download) – Fran Hockley (SI4 JSSADC)
Unfortunately, Tom Hughes was unable to deliver his presentation on Breaking Down Boundaries so Fran stepped up to fill the slot with a talk about their recent trip to Croatia.
Fran discussed:
· About Croatia and the Isle of Vis.
· Getting here (flights, ferries, travel).
· The dive centre they used.
· The dive teams (from staff training through to taking their own equipment and holiday diving).
· A list of all of the sites dived including history, pictures etc…
· And of obviously the finale, their dive to 100m (off duty obviously) including the dispensation required from BSAC to ensure that their insurance was valid.
BSAC Safety Update (ppt download) – Jim Watson (BSAC Safety Manager)
Like Dai’s presentation, as there was no conference last year the information was new to most people as outside of the BDSG (British Diving Safety Group) this was the first time this presentation had been given:
· He mentioned that Claire had taken over from Brian as BSAC’s incident advisor, which also brings a different perspective.
· He reviewed the statistics and added relevant comments. This year noting that the base line for data had changed. Previous data had been compared to a 10 year trend however as the previous drop-off of incidents has levelled over the past 5 years, it was those 5 years of data that was assessed to be the new norm that new statistics would be compared to.
· As usual BSAC saw similar trends to those reported by the coastguard.
· The discussion of IPO:
o JSSADC links.
o BSAC links (including downloads).
· Fatality related factors (in particular noting that those which contained the use of CCRs, the CCR was not at fault). Also ages have been removed to prevent the identification of victims.
· Jim then discussed the efficiency of rescue techniques as “why bother with in-water rescue breaths” is a common question.
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Successful is also defined as the casualty regained consciousness and/or was alive (at point of handing over to emergency services)
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· Lastly Jim informed the audience that future reporting would go from 1 Jan – 31 Dec. This allows more time before the conference to analysis the data, and gather external reports from the coroner and external agencies.
· Q&A.
o How do we do better reporting? Complete as much info as possible in the report.
o How do we get the messaging out? It is covered via magazine articles, monthly BSAC emails.
Valentine 75 Project (ppt download) – Nick Reed
· Nick discussed his branch and the reasons behind the project.
· How the tanks sank; Exercise SMASH, the largest live firing exercise prior to D Day.
· The project; 4 Apr 17 to 4 Apr 19 (first dive to culmination).
· Each of the 7 tanks including how some got blown up, any data, photogrammetry etc…
· How they achieved the project (such as data collection, RHIB v Hard boats, the team, data collection etc…).
· Links to the Regiment, putting a face to a name and meeting survivors.
· Media involvement.
For those who have not dived the tanks before my video of tanks 1 and 2 can be found here.
MOD Diving Safety (ppt download) – Cdr Don Crosbie (SODD) and Marc Sturch (DSI (AT))
Always a controversial subject, hence possibly why Nick wasn’t in attendance ;-)
SODD discussed:
· Review of diving governance.
· Organisation and Team.
· Proposed changes, remove DCOP. End of summer?
· New regulation 802 diving safety certification.
· New regulations on what is service diving and what is AT?
o Branch activities if it’s not on orders = off duty (even with military kit) therefore comply with BSAC SDP (therefore no SADS (DL to manage), no medical etc…). Military equipment for service personnel only. Dependents can dive.
o SDP v military recommendations.
o Responsibility lies with DO (as per civilian branches).
o Aim is to get more divers in water.
o Expeds/JSATFAs/Entry on orders = on duty (therefore medicals, SADS etc…)
Unsurprisingly there were a number of questions and discussions, and because I can be a gobby tw@t, some of them did come out of my mouth. But, this is a move in the right direction and shows the extent to which Dom (and the team) have gone to make service diving more accessible compared to a few years ago. There will be people who say this is dangerous without a SADS, but, how can it be if we’re following the NGB SDPs? This can only be a good thing for service diving, but I’m glad I’m not the one who’s having to re-write the regulations.
Further details on this to follow later in the year!
Marc discussed:
· COMMACs (noting Vobster & Stoney have just been audited so are good for 12 months. However these 2 centers generally don’t deliver training but facilitate safe diving.
· Single service branches.
· It is the branches responsibility to book their audit. Audits are now 2 years instead of 3 years so some branches are now due earlier than expected (including my branch RESDA).
· Q&A
o No specific window for branches? Engage early.
o Why change from 3-2 years? Regulations, best practice, audits were not being done, can be a lot of change in branches in 3 years.
o Inactive branches.
JSSADPAC Q&A
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| Picture courtesy of JSSADC |
· Generally the mood was positive compared to previous years!
· SO1 AT updated community that approximately £1.3M is likely to be spent updating Porthkerris. Timing still TBC.
· In response to Kiwi divers stating that they’d been doing a lot of training for expeditions, ATG(A) announced they have plans to increase UK provision of foundation level diving by 120 places per annum from later this year.
· Further discussion on off duty/on duty including use of kit by Service Personnel whilst off duty.
· SO1 AT agreed to assist Gibraltar personnel with use of SLC/ELC for diving qualifications.
· RAFSAA explained that Ascension runway is likely to be opened in the next few years. Unfortunately, they have no plans to regenerate the expedition facility. The Sponsor (RN) has agreed to look at whether they can do this.
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| Picture courtesy of JSSADC |
The very last item was a wrap up from Cdr Sean Winkle and a presentation to SODD on behalf of the AT Diving Community to say thank you for his work and support. He completes his assignment in May 19 and is off on promotion to Bahrain. The presentation was a porthole that Dom had recovered off the SS East Point (sunk 1917) in 70m of water. Dom also gave him a copy of a letter from the Receiver of the Wreck confirming that he owned it!
The day then closed with a function later that evening down town.
Thank you to JSSADC or the use of pictures and presentation downloads. Their review of the conference is available here.
The next conference is due to be on 18 March 2020 so put a marker in your diary now.
Safe diving.
The boring bit!
All opinions expressed in my articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and agency guidelines; by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute any of them. This article is for information only and should not replace proper training.
Safe diving!
Timothy Gort
BSAC, PADI & SDI/TDI diver training
l Mob: 07968148261 l Email: tim@rectotec.co.ukl
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