YOUR SAFETY and FIRST AID

Lungs are not the most important thing when you plan to start diving, clear head on the other hand is.
Responsible diver gives up diving in case he/she feels unwell that day. The most dangerous thing is to act .

The diving centre ensures safety of its divers in the following way:

• Each diving instructor is a qualified diver with adequate knowledge of First Aid
• Diving is organized with adequate briefing beforehand and after hand
• Divers do not go beyond the depth they have been qualified for
• Max depth of 40m
• There's no deco dive
• We always assign you a body partner

You will always find a First Aid kit on board of our boats and inside the Diving Centre.

In case of accident or emergency, You will find telephone numbers of Decompression Chambers and Rescue Service at Sea at visible places inside the Diving Center

REGIONAL INFORMATION CENTRE

985

EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

94

POLICE

92

SAFETY ADVICE EACH DIVER SHOULD TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION

One should always abide by laws of nature, which are governing the underwater world as much us ourselves and our bodies. If you plan to dive, you should be physically and mentally fit, which means giving up bad habits (smoking, drinking). This will have a direct influnce on the improvment of your overall health condition.

If you do not abide by basic rules of diving you risk of encurring:

- MONOXYDE DRUNKNESS
- DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS
- PULMONARY BAROTRAUMA
- EAR BAUROTRAUMA or EARDRUM RUPTURE

MONOXYDE DRUNKNESS

If you dive below 30 metres of depth, one can experience the feeling of drunkness.

Symptoms: Similar to those people that have consumed alcohol. It can impair your judgement.

Treatment: decrease the depth of your dive (you can continue diving in depths where there is no feeling of this sort). You need to have a partner next to you to decrese the depth because person experencing this particular sensation usually is not capable of doing it himslef/herslef.

DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS (DCI)

A reduction in pressure while ascending at the end of a dive will release dissolved gas (principally nitrogen) from solution in the tissues and blood and consequently form bubbles in the body.
DCI results from the effects of these bubbles on organ systems. The bubbles may disrupt cells and cause loss of function. They may act as emboli and block circulation especially in the capillaries. Additionally, the blood-bubble interface acts as a foreign surface, activating the early phases of blood coagulation and the release of substances from the cells lining the blood vessels causing vasoconstriction which can worsen the effects of a blocked vessel.

If not managed properly the blood bubble interface promotes an inflammatory reaction that may lead to permanent damage.
Most DCI comes on in the first few hours after the end of a dive. Some starts before leaving the water. Most cases have developed symptoms within 24 hours.

Symptoms:
Mild: extreme tiredness, pain in a joint or joints,
Serious: skin bends, rashes, burning sensation of the skin, difficulty breathing, vertigo, rapid heart beat, abdominal pain, speaking, hearing and visual problems, coma.
Remember: Every symptom which occurs during your dive is a serious symptom.

Treatment: administering of 100% oxygen to the victim and transportation to the nearest recompression chamber or nearest doctor.
Advice: You could make your symptoms even worse if you try to do another " decent decompression".

Prevention: Do not ascend faster than 9m in a minute, for safety reasons stay for 2- 5 minutes at the depth of 5m, and do not dive beyond the recomended levels of safety.

PULMONARY BAROTRAUMA

Pulmonary overpressurisation, for example during a breath holding ascent, can cause large gas embolisation when rupture into the pulmonary veins allows alveolar gas to enter systemic or arterial circulation. Gas emboli can lodge in coronary, cerebral, and other systemic arterioles.These gas bubbles continue to expand as ascending pressure decreases, thus increasing the severity of clinical signs.
Symptoms and signs depend on where the emboli travel.
It's an injury sustained from failure to equalize the pressure of an air-containing space with that of the surrounding environment.

Symptoms: heavy breathing, caugh, blood cough

Treatment: administer100% oxygen to the victim

Prevention: Keep breathing, not keeping your breath. If you are a free diver then keep breathing out, letting small bubbles of air out.
Learn how to do "Buddy breathing"

EAR BAROTRAUMA

The opening of the Eustachian tube in your ear is very sensitive to pressure. The effects of pressure can be felt in as little as three feet of water. If you don't equalize properly, you risk an ear injury. If you do not equalize properly, the pressure inside your ear could rupture your eardrum.

Symptoms: vertigo, eardrum bleading, nosiating feeling
Treatment: If your ear is bleading, it is strongly forbiden to put anything into it untill a doctor has seen it. It is advised to cover your ear with a gauze and see a doctor. If your ear hearts and their is no bleeding, you can put few nose drops into it before the doctor has examined it. You can even take a pane killer but you still need to see a doctor.

Prevention: One should not dive having a cold. Equalize pressure gradually.