Missed safety stop...told to go back down and complete?

[rickthompson]

Recently I was on a charter where there was a diver who hadn't been diving in awhile, and instead of doing a refresher or diving back in slowly with a shallow reef, she decided to dive a site 120ft max depth and a pretty strong current. I didn't see what happened but apparently she had some issues at the safety stop (mask got flooded by the current and she couldn't clear it?) but she aborted her safety stop.

I surfaced a minute or two later to a traffic jam on the granny line. The captain and the mate were yelling at the diver, who was now in tears, to return to 15ft and complete her missed safety stop. The first thing I thought was that if she had DCS the damage would most likely already be done and the last thing you would want would be to send her back to depth in the emotional condition she was in without anyone qualified to conduct in-water recompression. This diver wasn't showing any signs of DCS and turned out to be fine after she disregarded what the crew was saying. I personally think she made the correct decision not to attempt to go back to complete her safety stop, although she is apparently no longer welcome on that charter.

Anyways I did some research into IWR and I understand there are certainly benefits, but that is for divers experiencing symptoms of DCS, and is often done while 100% or high blend nitrox is administered by qualified divers in areas where traditional recompression treatment is unavailable or too far away.

Anyone have any opinions on this?

 

[Superlyte27]

There are simple procedures in place for missed decompression stops. They are done even if DCS symptoms are not present. Honestly, if she did a recreational dive within recreational limits, and omitted a safety stop, I'd have left her alone. As we all know, safety stops are not mandatory. If the Captain or Mate were that excited, they could bring her aboard and put her on 100% O2.

Anyway, if she was shook up, get her out of the water. A drowned woman with no deco obligation is worse than an alive woman who missed her safety stop.

 

[Stoo]

Well put Superlyte27. We don't know enough about this divers profile to judge how close she was to her NDL, but as you put it, she was safe and sound on the boat, with no symptoms, so why bother. "Safety Stops" hadn't been invented until I'd been diving for about 25 years, and I managed to survive.

I find it a bit concerning that the crew on the charter would "yell" at a customer that has just had a bit of an unpleasant experience in the water. Perhaps with a little reassurance, she and her buddy might have returned to soak for a bit, and that's never a bad thing...

 

[Diver0001]

Few random thoughts:

1) The diver in question sounds inexperienced and I would say it was dumb of the capt. to take her to 120ft deep dive site for her checkout dive. This was biggest mistake made.

2) Returning to 15ft to finish the safety stop isn't a bad idea if it's practical. Also, remaining there for longer than the obligatory 3 min isn't a bad idea if it's practical.

3) IWR is something else than finishing or repeating a safety stop. It is applied to situations where the diver will almost certainly develop (severe) DCS without treatment and treatment is not quickly available.

4) The safety stop is an extra buffer and normally it is optional. In this case where I assume the diver did not make a deco dive and just skipped the saftety stop and was on the surface crying, I would have taken her onboard and made her comfortable and monitored her for any symptoms. As an extra precaution they could have given her O2 on the surface as well. Assuming it was not a deco dive then it looks to me like the capt. was just multiplying his earlier mistakes.

R..

 

[rickthompson]

This was a recreational dive with a missed 15ft/3min safety stop. There was no mandatory deco stop.

 

[Dan G]

There is a difference between going back down to complete a missed safety stop and in water re-compression.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Sounds like Captain and mate went thru a zero to hero instructor class and, as is often the case, giving by the book answers to a problem that doesn't need them. Worse they are involved in creating what could easily be a panicked diver situation. I'd be seriously thinking about using that op again. Coupled with the 120 ft site. That's asking for an accident. Their judgment is seriously in question in my mind.

 

[Dsix36]

I, for one, would like to know who the dive operator is. I want to make sure to never give them my business.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I would yell to a person to redescend if I saw them pop up after a 120 ft dive. Someone who is capable of diving 120, should be able to suck it up and immediately shoot down to 20 feet. It may have been impossible for the crew to see if she is crying while she is in the water with a mask on. I don't see a problem with encouraging her to do the safety stop, especially if there are several other people on the line doing their own safety stops.

Once a diver has lost emotional control, then I would encourage them to go back down only if the consequences were very high for not doing so... Like blowing off a big deco.

As for her not being welcome on that charter again... I have no problem with that either...She does a 120 foot dive (which is advanced) and then screw up, looses control of buoyancy, pops up, starts crying and refuses to follow suggestions from the crew..... They probably can get through the winter without that kind of drama on their boat.

 

[Thalassamania]

Few random thoughts:

1) The diver in question sounds inexperienced and I would say it was dumb of the capt. to take her to 120ft deep dive site for her checkout dive. This was biggest mistake made.

2) Returning to 15ft to finish the safety stop isn't a bad idea if it's practical. Also, remaining there for longer than the obligatory 3 min isn't a bad idea if it's practical.

3) IWR is something else than finishing or repeating a safety stop. It is applied to situations where the diver will almost certainly develop (severe) DCS without treatment and treatment is not quickly available.

4) The safety stop is an extra buffer and normally it is optional. In this case where I assume the diver did not make a deco dive and just skipped the saftety stop and was on the surface crying, I would have taken her onboard and made her comfortable and monitored her for any symptoms. As an extra precaution they could have given own." her O2 on the surface as well. Assuming it was not a deco dive then it looks to me like the capt. was just multiplying his earlier mistakes.

R..

Returning to 15ft to finish the safety stop is, frankly, the wrong thing to do. A missed "safety stop" should be simply ignored. There is nothing to be gained by returning to 15 fsw. A safety stop is, as you note, an extra buffer and except in the case of the "PADI Patch" should be ignored if "blown." Returning to redo a safety stop runs the addition (at least theoretical) risk of bubble pumping.

I would yell to a person to redescend if I saw them pop up after a 120 ft dive. Someone who is capable of diving 120, should be able to suck it up and immediately shoot down to 20 feet. It may have been impossible for the crew to see if she is crying while she is in the water with a mask on. I don't see a problem with encouraging her to do the safety stop, especially if there are several other people on the line doing their own safety stops.

Once a diver has lost emotional control, then I would encourage them to go back down only if the consequences were very high for not doing so... Like blowing off a big deco.

As for her not being welcome on that charter again... I have no problem with that either...She does a 120 foot dive (which is advanced) and then screw up, looses control of buoyancy, pops up, starts crying and refuses to follow suggestions from the crew..... They probably can get through the winter without that kind of drama on their boat.

The depth is irrelevant, if they were in a no decompression status they should no re-pressurize, period. The Captain and crew are idiots, not to mention taking on the liability of sending a diver back down without reason.