What basic safety procedures have you let slide?

[highdesert]

Does surfacing with less than 200 psi count? Then I'm in.

 

[Bossman]

turning the tank BACK ON.
Most areas I dive there is a bit of walk to get to entry, and can sometimes take a while to get into the water, we do our checks then turn the tank off.
till entry. There has been a number of occasions where I have forgotten to turn the tank back on before getting wet. I know I am being distracted by my camera, and it is a really bad habit, especially when you are diving with other instructors and they give me lots and lots of grief.
Oh the shame of it.

I did this once, and it was caught by my buddy (who is an instructor). But I was pissed at myself. I also forgot to attach my inflator hose prior to walking down to the water, twice. I caught it when I did my second set of checks before entering the water, and again I was pissed at myself.

My solution to that issue was to have a routine that always goes in the same order. When I put my regs on a tank, after checking tank position and straps, I turn the tank on, check pressure, inflator, primary, and octo, in that order all the time. Once I do that, the tank stays on. When I gear up, immediately before entry, I check pressure, inflator, primary, octo again.

I realized there is no need to turn the tank valve off even if there is an hour or more until entry. The tank shouldn't lose any air. If you do the second pressure check before entry and the PSI is down at all, you stop and resolve the O-ring (or other leak) problem.

 

[hudson]

I realized there is no need to turn the tank valve off even if there is an hour or more until entry. The tank shouldn't lose any air.

It could always freeflow if it gets bumped and is finely tuned. You are also reducing the life of the high pressure seat in the first stage if you leave it pressurized - not really a problem if you get it serviced every year, but I don't...

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Nope, never. i am all-powerfull Instructor and have never made a mistake or let anything slip............................
.............................. Wait Wait Wait. I let me try that again. I can say that with a straight face if I just practice a little.

Turn off air for the loooong boat ride, check it, fine cause there's air in the lines...... Descend and ..... doh! Reach back turn my air on, pretend it never happened. Twice.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Mask skills. I haven't had my mask off under water in more than twenty years. I don't see the point.
I did forget to connect my drysuit inflator on more than one dive. One push on the inflator and I was quickly reminded by a rush of cold water.
I was ten minutes into a lobster dive once when I was having trouble staying below thirty feet. I had forgotten my weight belt back on the boat.

 

[iztok]

Hm... let me see what I've forgot to do in my past 165 dives on one or more occasions.

1. connect LP inflation hose to my drysuit - oh the joys of cold water on your chest

2. forget to turn air on - lucky I can reach my valve even on a single tank

3. fins - jumped off the boat and didn't notice until I was about 10ft down and went horizontal and tried to fin lucky it was only on the 30ft reef and I used the "elevator button" to get me up to face the embarrassment on the surface

4. not securing the tank after setup on a boat and it fell and luckily not damaged anything

5. Trying to help fellow diver with weighting (he was overweight) and wasn't familiar with Zeagle. Pulled the rip cord. Luckily all his weights were in the pocket not in the zip corded part. He was still pissed. (Oh the rumors about this story.)

6. Diving essentially solo while traveling.

7. Way back before I ditched the snorkel I descended while still breathing on a snorkel... fun.

Probably more that I fail to remember.

 

[lulubelle]

Boy I hope my buddy doesn't test out my quick release, I dive a Zeagle Stiletto and threading that back will take forever.

My fav buddy do our topside checks, and meet at the hangline for a bubble check and to make sure everything is functioning. And she usually gets to wait for me to readjust my equipment as I can never get my BC straps tight enough when dry.

I'd love to see a list of what other divers consider the minimum/maximum for an OW recreational dive.

 

[iztok]

Boy I hope my buddy doesn't test out my quick release, I dive a Zeagle Stiletto and threading that back will take forever.

Don't worry I am not touching Zeagle BCs with a 10ft pole!

 

[Mike Boswell]

I have turned my air on and checked it well before the dive, only to have the air drain out because of a slow leak.

I have turned the tank valve on and later, forgetting it was on, turned it off by mistake.

I have zipped up my booties but not zipped down my wetsuit legs and then forgot to do it later.

I have hooked up my regulator but neglected to connect the inflator hose.

I have made just about every mistake you could make, and from those I have learned a whole lot of lessons.

Routine is your friend. Let nothing be different. Take your sweet time. Check yourself and your buddy, top to bottom. Do the same checks in the same way at the same time, every time.

 

[lulubelle]

Don't worry I am not touching Zeagle BCs with a 10ft pole!

I love my Stiletto! It was the only one in a multi state area which I could fit in because I was able to put a small shoulder in it. Had I been confident in selecting a BP/W as a brand new diver I would have done so. I like the rip cord, not much chance of missing that red pull.