Checklist Vs Do List

[fsardone]

Hello all,

I spent last weekend at EuroTek in Birmingham and I had a chat with a lot of experienced rebreather divers and I have learned a few things.

While talking with someone I rate very expert in rebreather operation and diving we where discussing use of checklist. What it came out from this is that he used a checklist to build a routine and then not anymore.

Me, as a (aviation) pilot, also use a checklist to build a routine and then stop using it. But when I know the routine, I do what I have to do and THEN when I am done, I pick up the checklist and I do CHECK that I did all I was supposed to do.

Let me explain a bit more and give an example of why this should be done.

When I am clueless on how to perform a task I go in the checklist step by step and execute each task.
This is what I call use the checklist as a to do list.

When I am a little more expert I know how to do something I do it and then I check with the checklist if I did all the required steps. This is what I call use the checklist properly as a checklist.

Why this is important in my view? Because we all know how to perform our habitual tasks but if something interferes with our sequence (something different than usual, a distraction ...) we might miss critical steps and never realise it.

One example from personal experience. I dive an inspiration, at the end of the diving day I take it all apart, all hoses and rinse counterlungs and everything. Hang to dry.
The next time I put it all together and go dive.

In one occasion I stopped diving for a couple of weeks and I put the rebreather together by connecting the hoses and the scrubber canister. The next time I went diving I disconnected the canister refilled, did positive and negative test and calibrated.
When I checked with my checklist if I did all my check I found out that I did not do the one-way valves. Why? Because I do those when I take my Open Circuit Bailout/DSV to connect it to the counterlungs. This time it was already connected and so I skipped a step. The Reb was correctly assembled but a critical piece of kit had not been checked.

There is an additional way to use an (aviation) checklist and it is a challenge-response in which pilot-not-flying reads a check and pilot-flying performs the action and states it out loud pilot-not-flying check that the response is the intended one. This obviously is not applicable to diving ...

I thought it might be interesting to share for everybody to ponder.

Cheers and dive safe

 

[wedivebc]

Sometimes on liveaboard trips I will find myself getting complacent with the use of checklists due to the repetition of daily builds and teardowns. Then I will suddenly realize I have skipped a step or overlooked something so I am back to using checklists. Complacency kills and I still have a few years of diving left to do.

 

[RainPilot]

I still do it as a "Do-list" since the reason for checklists doesn't apply here. In aviation the idea of doing all the actions from memory in a flow, then checking off on a list, is there because often there are 2 or more people involved and it saves a lot of time if everyone can work simultaneously followed by a confirmation. Also, in an emergency, one can rely on muscle memory to perform the actions even though you might not have time to do a checklist afterwards.

In my diving nothing is that time-critical. I take the list and work through it step by step as a do-list. It might feel annoying at times but thats the price of doing business in CCR for me.