Links

Index

  • BSAC Resources
    • Annual Diving Incident Report
    • BSAC '88 Decompression Tables (Air, Levels 1-4) - requires login
    • BSAC Tables (Nitrox) - requires login
    • Diver Guidance for Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO)
    • Diving Year Planner
    • Equivalent BSAC Qualifications
    • Incident/Accident Report Form
    • Safe Diving Guide
    • Safety
  • COVID-19 Guidance
    • BSAC: Training information regarding COVID-19
    • Public Health England: Guidance for first responders
    • Resuscitation Council UK: COVID-19 - CPR and resuscitation in first aid
  • Emergencies
    • Hand Signals For Emergencies
    • How to do a 4-Minute Neurologic Exam
    • Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Trust
    • Hyperbaric Chamber Locations Across The UK - ukdiving.co.uk
    • Incident Procedure / Casualty Assessment Form - staffordscuba.co.uk
    • "No Entonox" Wristbands / pac Wristbands
    • what3words
  • Other Useful Links
    • Dive Management Briefing Checklist
    • Divernet
    • Dive Site Directory - UK
    • Diver's Home Maintenance Kit: 15 Must-Have Items
    • simplyscuba
    • Tides App
    • UK Vis Report
    • ukdiving.co.uk
    • Windguru


BSAC Resources

BSAC regularly pulls together documents and statistics about diving that hold all sorts of useful nuggets of information. Here are the BSAC links.

Annual Diving Incident Report

The Annual Diving Incident Report contains details of UK diving incidents occurring to divers from all agencies and backgrounds, plus incidents occurring worldwide involving BSAC members.

BSAC '88 Decompression Tables (Air, Levels 1-4) - requires login

In 1985 BSAC commissioned Dr Tom Hennessy, a world renowned researcher in the field, to jointly produce the first decompression tables specifically designed for sports diving. Published in 1988, so known as the BSAC '88 Tables, they form a booklet of four table sets giving no calculation repeat diving solutions from sea level to 3000 metres altitude.

Decompression Tables (Nitrox) - requires login

BSAC nitrox decompression tables are hailed as the simplest dive tables to use and to teach. This four set booklet covers air, Nitrox 27%, 32% and 36%. The only true Nitrox rather than EAD tables, they again follow the BSAC no calculation format. Printed on waterproof plastic.

Diver Guidance for Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO)

Originally thought to be rare, IPO is now recorded far more often as a contributing factor in swimming, snorkelling and diving indicidents. This article explains more and ends with a video of Dr Peter Wilmhurst presenting a lecture at the 2017 BSAC Diving Conference.

Diving Year Planner

With the Spring and Neap tides for the coming 12 months, the planner can be used to map out both your and your club’s dives for the new diving year. The PDF can also be printed off in either A4 or A3, perfect for the dive club noticeboard, but the planner is available in larger sizes too – A2 and A1 – which can be sent to your local printers or copy shop.

Equivalent BSAC Qualifications

BSAC recognises qualifications from other agencies so it’s easy to continue diving or progress your scuba training with BSAC.

Incident/Accident Report Form

BSAC encourages all divers to report any incident they witness, be it as a bystander, a rescuer, or even the person affected. Multiple reports for the same incident are encouraged, and indeed required for any incident that may result in a third party claim.

Safe Diving Guide

As a diver or someone thinking about learning to scuba dive, BSAC’s Safe Diving guide will be an essential part of your diving safety ‘toolkit’. This is the online version of what used to be a book, and if you log in you can download the Safe Diving Guide as a PDF.

Safety

This links you to the 'Safety' page on BSAC's web site, where all the articles, forms, guides, and guidelines are kept.

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COVID-19 Guidance

COVID-19 seems to have affected all aspects of our lives, and some organisations have changed their advice on certain aspects of diving and rescue for the next few months.

BSAC: Training information regarding COVID-19

The health, welfare and safety of all members is an overriding concern for BSAC and it is recognised that the coronavirus outbreak, subsequent spread and associated media publicity can heighten awareness and concern.

Public Health England: Guidance for first responders

Guidance for first responders and others in close contact with symptomatic people with potential COVID-19.

Resuscitation Council UK: COVID-19 - CPR and resuscitation in first aid

Statement on COVID-19 in relation to CPR and resuscitation in first aid and community settings.

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Emergencies

There are all sorts of organisations out there that we can use as divers. This list attempts to put together some of the most useful tools and resources, and will grow over time.

Hand Signals For Emergencies

If you dive enough, problems — and sometimes emergencies — will eventually arise. In almost every scenario, it's important to let your buddy know what you're dealing with. This page lists the scuba diving hand signals used to identify emergency situations and help you better communicate with your buddies, with a video at the top and GIFs for each signal below.

How to do a 4-Minute Neurologic Exam

In this video - part of the Merck Manuals series - an experienced examiner completes an examination of all the components of the neurologic exam in a patient who has no neurologic abnormalities.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Trust

Another organisation that will help you find your nearest barochamber. The Trust provides help and information to the public and healthcare professionals on hyperbaric oxygen treatment and seeks to promote further research into the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Hyperbaric Chamber Locations Across The UK - ukdiving.co.uk

ukdiving.co.uk is the "world's largest internet resource for divers". This is their page showing hyperbaric chamber locations by category.

Incident Procedure / Casualty Assessment Form - staffordscuba.co.uk

A superb sheet to have on hand in an emergency. Everyone gets a little stressed when the worst happens, so this sheet lays out all the things you need to record to help you remember. Just fill it in as you go and hand it to them when they arrive. Laminate one and stick a wax pencil to it for use in wet environments.

"No Entonox" Wristband Design
pac Wristbands

Some time ago Dave tried to find a wristband online that would prevent paramedics from giving him entonox after diving but was only able to find rubber ones (such as this one) so he decided to design and produce his own. These links give you the design and the company that made them.

what3words

what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. They have assigned each 3m square in the world a unique 3 word address that will never change. 3 word addresses are easy to say and share, and are as accurate as GPS coordinates. This makes them useful for telling emergency services where you are when you're diving at sea, or even uncharted/unpopulated places inland.

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Other Useful Links

I'm sure there are hundreds of links that I could include in this section. Here are a few I've found so far. Again, this will probably grow over time.

Dive Management Briefing Checklist

Someone asked for a sample dive management checklist, and Google served up this one. This is West Norfolk Sub Aqua Club's dive management briefing checklist, and seems to cover most items you'd normally expect to find.

Divernet

Divernet calls itself the "biggest online resource for Scuba divers". See what you think.

Dive Site Directory - UK

Dive Site Directory has a wealth of information covering all aspects of each dive site, covering temperatures, suit requirements, visibility, marine life, and so on. Use the links on the left to explore 'inland' for quarries and lakes, and the different regional links for sea diving.

Diver's Home Maintenance Kit: 15 Must-Have Items

Scuba diving is an equipment intensive sport, and your gear can be a fickle ally. Assembling a collection of dive gear-specific tools and spare parts to deal with basic maintenance and minor emergencies will help keep you ready to hit the water at a moment’s notice.

simplyscuba

simplyscuba.com has been voted the UK's top dive retailer for the last 10 years.

Tides App

In addition to worldwide tidal estimates, this app allows you to see the lunar data, weather forecast, and current radar data, making your next outdoor adventure as easy to plan as possible. By default, the application will pick the closest station to you, but picking a different station is as easy as viewing a map of your current location. You can also setup and quickly switch between many stored favorite stations if you need to.

No internet access while outdoors? No problem. This app has been designed to give you tidal and lunar predictions without internet access!

UK Vis Report

This is a Facebook group where people who've visited dive spots around the UK can record the date, time, location and visibility. Great for finding out what kind of vis to expect.

ukdiving.co.uk

ukdiving.co.uk calls itself the "world's largest internet resource for divers". See what you think.

Windguru

Windguru is a service specialized in forecasting weather, mostly for windsurfers and kitesurfers, but is a great source of information when planning dives out at sea. Their forecasts are based on data produced by weather forecast models, and as such Windguru is able to provide forecasts for any place on Earth.