Welcome to the

Safety and Emergencies

About:

Last update:	09 Apr 2001

Scope:		The purpose of this page is to outline safety and 
		emergency proceedures and procautions. The formost of
		which is "DON'T PANIC, THINK!"





Safety and Emergencies:


Verification testing of "Certified" units:

Just a quick note re:  "testing items that you bought certified" 
We buy and use a large number of 'certified. tested, ' u/w connectors and
bulkhead fittings. We routinely pressure test them all, in-house. Failure
rate varies between 10% and 20% !

Phil Nuytten

[Bottom line: Just becuase it is certified doesn't mean that you are 
 are safe. It's your life, make sure that part is safe. RK]





Droppable Ballast:

Droppable ballast is a weight of some kind, usually lead, that
can be dropped from a submersible that for some reason can't
come to the surface otherwise. The idea is that by dropping the
weight the submersible will become more positively bouyant and will
float to the surface.





Reserve Air:

Compressed air is a submersibles life blood. With compressed air
even a submersible that ran out of battery power can come safely
to the surface. Reserve air are extra tank(s) of compressed air for
just in case you run out of your regular supply of air either 
through an equipment problem or carelessness in not checking your
main air supply.





Air scrubber:

If forced to stay down for an extended amount of time for 
whatever reason the CO2 from your breath will have to be removed
from the interior air before it can reach toxic levels. An air
scrubber removes excess CO2 from the air.





Dive plan:

A dive plan is a scuba diver safety concept that may be a good idea
for submersibles. The idea is to let someone who is not diving know
where you are going to dive, when, how, ... With a time and date that
if you do not contact them they are to contact the authorities that
something has gone wrong. So if you are 3 hours overdue the Coast
Guard will start looking for you.





Swim to surface (scuba):

As a last resort if you can't bring your submersible to the surface,
abandon ship. Don't take this lightly. 
- To do so will flood your submersible and salt water 
  will get into the electrics and batteries. Salt water 
  in batteries create chlorine gas! 
- Flooding the cabin may take longer than you can hold 
  your breath so scuba gear is a good idea. 
- Be especially careful if you are abandoning an ambient 
  pressure submersible. The air in your lungs is at the 
  the pressure of the surrounding water. If you hold your breath 
  on the way up your lungs can pop like a over blown balloon. 
I recommend that any submersible owner and operator become scuba
divers.





External floatation devices:

Think of an air bag or lift bag on the external hull. Open a valve
to an emergency reserve air tank, its air filling up a lift bag.
The resulting lift brings the disabled submersible to the surface.





Power to surface:

Out of air but have power. Use your motors to power your way up
to the surface.





Locator beacon:

A light beacon that would make your submersible easier to see in
fog, mist or murky water.

EPIRB Locator Beacon:

For those who do not know what an EPIRB is:  it is a radio transmitter
that can aid rescuers to locate a craft or person in the water via radio
tracking through ships, aircraft and satellites orbiting the planet.
The addition of an EPIRB to a submersible can add that extra margin of
safety should she come to the surface out of sight of rescuers in an
emergency.  The more modern EPIRBS can have the crafts description,
owners data, etc. encoded into them so the Coast Guard and other
authorities can better identify the stricken craft.  EPIRBs are
available at any good marine supply store. -Bill Lewis





Blow ballast tanks:

Blow your tanks dry. This will increase your positive bouyancy and
will allow you to float to the surface.





Log Book:

Keep a log book of every dive. The log book should contain maintenance
records and checklists for every dive. The importance of the Log Book is
that you can keep track of hull cycles and maintenace schedules to keep your
submersible in the safest possible condition.





Check List:

Create and use a check list for every dive. A check list helps make sure
you don't forget to close a critical valve or hatch. You might think you
will remember all the details but forgetting one can kill you.