Checklists: If surgical teams don't comply, what hope do divers have?
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Exactly!
But that was @Dr Simon Mitchell's point upthread. The build checklist and the pre-jump checklist are two completely different things, and for some reason this keep being a point of discussion. One does not replace or include the other.
It doesn't matter how perfectly we build the rebreather if we don't turn on the gas. And a number of people have NOT turned on the gas, with catastrophic results. That's all I'm saying...
You forgot, I ordered 200 of them myself.Aha! Then you could use a sticker!
Happy to send you a few...
I discovered they don't stick so well in cold weather. It was about 35F past weekend and my CCR spent the night in my truck before Sunday's dive. The sticker's edges were lifting up off the curved battery compartment on my shearwater.
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Seeing that the thread still is located in Advanced, not in Technical or Rebreather, I'd like to try to throw in a post with a perspective from outside the tech/rebreather world
It didn't go over well the last time, but I still want to mention that a checklist doesn't have to be physical, written. A checklist may just as well be purely mental. For complex procedures (say, like when diving a rebreather), a written checklist may be necessary, since very few of us are able to hold a long, detailed checklist in our head. For simpler procedures (say, like when diving no-deco OC), the checklist can be pretty short and simple and can be memorized. For example with the aid of a mnemonic like BWRAF. But IMNSHO, a checklist is a checklist is a checklist. No matter whether it's written down on a physical medium, stored on a digital device or just kept in your mind, possibly with the help of a mnemonic.
Which I personally totally agree with as long as we don't limit our understanding of "checklist" to "checklist written down on a physical medium"
Agree to disagree. Minds fail. Printed words don't.
But again, I think that you and I are considering two completely different design specs. Mnemonics are fine for some things. I just wouldn't trust them for critical checks on life support equipment. There's a reason why pilots and surgeons aren't allowed to use them instead of checklists.
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Agree to disagree. Minds fail, as do the reading of printed words. However, minds fail more easily than reading of printed words do, so while minds may be sufficient for storing simple checklists, printed words are a better alternative for storing more complex checklists.
As I mentioned in my edit, we are really talking about two different things, and I kind of got off on my CCR checklist evangelist theme (apologies to you and the other OC divers!).
But I'm not positing a complex checklist. I'm talking about something very simple (see the sticker). You could make it even simpler than that - is your O2 on and does your unit hold a setpoint at the surface? There are a number of dead people who didn't think to ask themselves that question. But if you can't look at your controller without seeing that question, you are going to answer it.
Here's the thing. Printed words don't really fail. I mean, yeah, you could lose your physical checklist, but that's sort of like saying that someone stealing your rebreather is a CCR failure.
So if you are 100% committed to always using a checklist, and your physical checklist is missing, you just need to pull another one out of your gear bag, because you KNOW that you don't have it.
If you are 100% committed to always going through your mnemonic and you misremember it, you will happily go on your way, completely sure that you have used a checklist. Unfortunately, the people who are most likely to benefit from a mnemonic are the ones most likely to get it wrong.
And finally, the day that you are hungry, nervous, angry, tired, distracted, hung over or rushed is the day when you might forget to even run the mnemonic. But at least that physical checklist stuck onto your controller will be in your face, no matter what.
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So... When I do a head-to-toe check on my gear before (OC, no-deco) diving, is your thesis that I don't follow a checklist? I'll readily admit that it isn't written down, and I use a mnemonic to make it easier to remember every point, but to me it's still a list. Just like I when I memorize "bread, milk, potatoes, beer" before driving down to the grocery store. That's still a list of things I'm going shopping for. Even if the list is short enough that I don't need to make it into a written item. And to me, BWRAF is an aid to help me remember the list of things I should check before splashing:
- Is the BCD/wing working? Does it inflate? Can I reach the dump valve cord, or is it caught under my harness? (B)
- Do we have our weights? How are your weights released in case SHTF and I have to dump yours? If I know my buddy and have dived with them before, the latter point is kinda superfluous, but the former is still relevant. (W)
- Releases ok? Often blends into W, but so what? (R)
- Three breaths from the primary, three breaths from the secondary, while watching the SPG. (A)
- Looking good? Suit hose attached? No entanglements? Everything fine? (F)
C'mon.
Don't overthink this. It's not a thesis, and you seem to be reducing this to semantics. Sure, BWARF is a non-physical mnemonic checklist. That was never my point, that it wasn't a "checklist".
I know what a mnemonic is. It's great that you have ways of remembering these things. It's fine to share them with other divers. I don't like them personally, for reasons I outlined above, but if you want to use them for OC, non-deco diving, that's fine with me.
Sure, any minor OC gear failure can and has triggered a panic spiral ending in tragedy. But for the most part, if anyone reading this thread put on an AL80 with an unbuckled weightbelt, a broken wing and a closed tank valve, and fell in the water, they would probably survive. Because they would know instantly that something was seriously wrong. As opposed to Brian Bugge, who just went to sleep.
I have been pretty clear about what type of diving I feel requires a physical checklilst, as opposed to a mnemonic. Hopefully, changing that culture can save some lives.
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