update on contaminated water diver training
TRANSCRIPT
Update on ContaminatedWater Diver Training
Presented by
Steven M. Barsky, Marine Marketing and Consulting
Awareness of problems in contaminatedwater diving has increased
Most commercialdiving companies nowrecognize there is aneed to protect divers incontaminated water.
New problems have beenrevealed
• Non-point sourcepollution
• 40% of U.S. waters donot meet EPAstandards
Storiescirculated aboutdivers who havegotten cancer• San Diego Harbor
patrol
• Michigan Police
• Israeli Navy
Scientific correlation hasbeen established with IsraeliNavy divers exposure
• Haifa harbor dives
• Dr. Elihu Richter
• Paper to be published inEnvironmental HealthPerspectives in 2003
New form of Pfiesteria identified
• Pfiesteria shumwayae
• Appears to be equallytoxic to P. piscicida
• Toxic to humans
Swimmer’s Itch
• Schistosomecercarial dermatitis
• Carried by fecalmatter from waterfowl
• Results in intenseitching
M ichigan
Acanthamoeba Keratitis
• Affects wearers ofcontact lenses
• Infection of cornea
• Can lead to vision loss
• Can occur in fresh andsalt water
Trbutyltins
• Used on hulls of large ships
• Absorbed through skin
• Still in use worldwide
• Danger to diver doing hull searches
PCBs• Dangerous carcinogen
• Accidental dumping
• Boating canals inMichigan site of worstcontamination incidentin 2002
• 30,000 times safeexposure level inMichigan
Michigan
507 Lakes inCalifornia listedas “impaired”under CleanWater Act
No pollution control planmandated until 2012
California
Drug wastes contaminatinginland waterways
• Steroids, antibiotics, &hormones
• Personal carepollutants– Considered the next
big unknown inpollution
Hudson RiverPCBs
• General Electricdumped PCBs intoriver
• 40 mile stretch of riveraffected
• Dredging scheduled tostart in 2005
Most polluted beaches• Huntington Beach, CA
• Malibu Surfrider Beach, CA
• Kiddie Beach, Ventura, CA
• La Jolla Beach, CA
• M ission Bay, CA
• M iami Beach, FL
• Jones Beach, NY
• Indiana Dunes Lakeshore, Porter County, Ind.
Different groups take differentapproaches
• No standard for publicsafety divers
• Commercial industryhas standard
Filming of contaminated waterdiving techniques
• Traveled across U.S.
• New York
• Columbus, GA
• Long Beach, CA
• Huntington Harbor, CA
New York Harbor Patrol Divers
• Dive full time
• Use AGA mask
• Use Viking PRO suit
• Don’t use dry gloves
• No formal deconprocedure
Trident Foundation
• Use both AGA &SuperLitehelmets
• Use Viking suits
• Use dry gloves
• Performextensive deconprocedures
CaliforniaDepartment ofTransportation• Full time team of
divers inspectingbridges
• Almost all diving is inpolluted sites
• Use surface-suppliedgear exclusively
Long Beach, CA Lifeguards
• Perform hull searchesin harbor
• Rescues in harbor
• Body recoveries
• Use AGA/Viking/Drygloves
• Full decon proceduresused
Companies are adapting techniquesand equipment to their needs
• Decon proceduresvary widely
• Decon adjusted tolevel of threat
• Diving equipment isconsistent
When to use full-face mask
• When contaminantswill not causepermanent injury ordeath
• You know for surethere are no othercontaminants present
When to use helmet…
• When contaminantswill cause permanentinjury or death
• When risk that full-face might bedislodged is high
Tools available to assist intraining
• Chemical tables
• Training course on CDROM
• Diving in High-RiskEnvironments
• NEW! Video on CD-ROM
CD-ROM supplements othermaterials
• Use with trainingcourse and book
• Good review tool afterformal training iscomplete
V ideo is in QuickTime Format-plays cross-platform on Mac & PC
• 9 separate programs
• Quick review
• Can view eachprogram individually
• Average running time5 minutes per program
Let’s take a look at the video… .
Thank you for attending!