Tethering Policy?

[espantoon]

Yup, working until 0300. Lucky me!

 

[Jared0425]

Our team has not yet dove without a tethering system. Our comm lines to the AGA is our primary source of tether and in rare cases the surface supplied air. I do not always agree with the tether when we are working in the river with current and when we are "sledding", but the dive chief is very safety cautious about operations.

 

[Yotsie]

Like Jared's team, we dive tethered most of the time. When we dive AGAs, we use the Mk7 comm gear with a comm rope attached via snap shackle. When we dive surface supplied with hats, we're tethered via umbilical, again with a snap shackle. We rarely dive untethered anymore, but we have the option available if the circumstances call for us to go untethered.

 

[salth2owannabe]

We rarely dive untethered anymore, but we have the option available if the circumstances call for us to go untethered.

I think that's the key. Diving Tethered with a quick release is great, and often appropriate. The problem, in my opinion, arises when policy says "Thou Shalt". It should be the call of the diver and dive commander on scene as situations dictate. You need to convince the policy writer to include verbiage like "usually", "upon evaluation" "As circumstances dictate". Etc

 

[ReefGuy]

We do not dive untethered.

 

[jencks23]

Our team here in Connecticut, we ice dive tethered ALL the time. Open water (good weather) depends on the call but 99.9% of the time its hard tethered

 

[Jared0425]

We just went over laws and regulations yesterday at practice. OSHA REQUIRES that a diver be on a tether and under no listed circumstance can a PSD dive without one.

 

[ReefGuy]

We just went over laws and regulations yesterday at practice. OSHA REQUIRES that a diver be on a tether and under no listed circumstance can a PSD dive without one.

And the worm can has been opened...

 

[nimoh]

I believe the OSHA standard is that a tether is required for a diver on SCUBA if the current exceeds 1 knot or the diver is unable to make a free ascent to the surface (overhead).

 

[ReefGuy]

I believe the OSHA standard is that a tether is required for a diver on SCUBA if the current exceeds 1 knot or the diver is unable to make a free ascent to the surface (overhead).

OSHA standards do not apply to (at least non-volunteer) Public Safety Divers. it has been argued exhaustively in the PSDiver forum by the industry leaders.