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The Way the World Learns to Dive®
PADI’s Rescue Diver program will build As you master rescue techniques,
your confidence as a diver, give you valuable adapting your new-found skills to suit a
experience in emergency management and variety of different situations both in and out
prevention and heighten your awareness of of the water, your confidence level will soar.
the surrounding environment. In addition, the “tool box” of techniques,
skills and knowledge you have accumulated RESCUE DIVER
Your home-study materials cover principles throughout the Rescue Diver program will give Manual
and information necessary for preventing and you the expertise and confidence to handle
handling dive emergencies. Sections on self- almost any emergency situation.
rescue, diver stress, diving first aid, emergency
management, equipment problems and other
topics prepare you to handle almost any
emergency whether on the shoreline
or in the water.
Product No. 79102 (Rev. 02/13) Version 3.07 © PADI 2011 307PDE13
Printed in Canada
PADI
Rescue Diver
Manual
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Student Diver
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Address
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Telephone
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Instructor Date
PADI Members are licensed to use various PADI Trademarks and to conduct PADI training. Individual,
dive center and resort Members are not agents, employees or franchisees of PADI. Member business
activities are independent, and are neither owned nor operated by PADI. While PADI establishes the
standards for PADI diver training programs, it is not responsible for, nor does it have the right to control,
the operation of the Members’ business activities and the day-to-day conduct of PADI programs and
supervision of divers by the Members or their associated staff.
PADI
Rescue Diver Manual
© PADI 2011
No part of this product may be reproduced, sold or distributed in any form without
the written permission of the publisher.
® indicates a trademark is registered in the U.S. and certain other countries.
Published by PADI
30151 Tomas
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688-2125 USA
ISBN 978-1-878663-09-2
Printed in Canada
Product No. 79102 (Rev. 02/13) Version 3.07
2
Acknowledgments
Editor in Chief
Drew Richardson, Ed.D.
Instructional Design, Development, Consultation and Review
Drew Richardson,Ed.D., Lesley Alexander, Ph.D., Al Hornsby,
Julie Taylor Sanders, Karl Shreeves, Robert Wohlers, Eric Albinsson
International Review and Consultation
Henrick Nimb, PADI Asia Pacific; Pascal Dietrich, PADI Europe; Takayuki
Miyashita and Yasushi Inoue, PADI Japan; Trond Skaare and Hans Olsson,
PADI Nordic; Suzanne Pleydell and Mark Caney, PADI International Ltd.;
Associate Professor Simon J. Mitchel, MB ChB, PhD, DipDHM, DipOccMed,
CertDHM (ANZCA), FANZCA
Design and Production
Joy Zuehls, Dail Schroeder, Kristen Core
Illustrations
Greg Beatty, Joe De La Torre
Photography
Al Hornsby, Karl Shreeves, Robert Wohlers
Reference Sources
1. Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured. Fourth Edition, 1987,
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
2. The Physiology and Medicine of Diving. Fourth Edition, 1993, Editors Peter Bennett
and David H. Elliott, W.B. Saunders Company, Ltd.
3. Divers Alert Network, 1991 Underwater Diving Accident Manual.
Duke University.
4. Oxygen First Aid for Divers. 1992, John Lippmann, J.L. Publications.
5. Patient Care Standards – The PADI Rescue Diver Course follows emer-
gency considerations and protocols from the consensus view of the Basic
Life Support (BLS) Working Group of the International Liaison Committee
on Resuscitation (ILCOR). ILCOR is an international standards group rep-
resenting many of the world’s major resuscitation organizations. A source
authority for the development on content material in the PADI Rescue Diver
Course program is Guidelines 2005 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, International Consensus on Science,
Circulation, 2005; 112:IV-1-IV-5; ©2005 American Heart Association,® Inc.
6. Emergency First Response Participant Manual,© Emergency First Response® , Corp.
2007.
3
4 PADI Rescue Diver Manual
Contents
Introduction 7 Chapter Three 113
Course Overview 10 The Psychology of Rescue III 115
Course Philosophy 11 Being Prepared for a Diver Emergency III 119
How to Use This Manual 13 Accident Management III 122
Thermal Problems 126
Chapter One 15 Responding to Diver Emergencies III 129
The Psychology of Rescue I 16 Missing Diver Procedures 135
Recognizing Diver Stress 19
Being Prepared for a Diver Emergency I 25 Chapter Four 145
Emergency Oxygen Delivery Systems 29 The Psychology of Rescue IV 146
Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) 33 Being Prepared for a Diver 148
Emergency IV
Accident Management I 35
Accident Management IV 154
Responding to Diver Emergencies I 46
Near Drowning 156
Nonswimming Assists and Rescues 52
Responding to Diver Emergencies IV 158
Assisting the Responsive Diver at 55
the Surface Inwater Rescue Breathing Techniques 161
Unresponsive Diver Underwater 166
Chapter Two 65 Equipment Removal 169
The Psychology of Rescue II 66
Being Prepared for a Diver Emergency II 70 Chapter Five 177
Common Equipment Problems 83 The Psychology of Rescue V 178
Release Function and Problems 87 Being Prepared for a Diver Emergency V 181
Accident Management II 91 Accident Management V 187
Responding to Diver Emergencies II 96 Responding to Diver Emergencies V 189
Exits with a Responsive Diver 102
Post Attendance 106 Appendix / Index 201
5
6 PADI Rescue Diver Manual
Introduction
It’s been a great, long,
shallow dive on a reef
so beautiful, you ran
out of film half an
hour before. You and
a group of eight divers
ascend a short swim
from the charter boat;
no sooner do you break
the surface, when
someone in the group
shouts, “Ow! My leg.”
You turn to see a diver
about 3 metres/10 feet
away grimacing, grab-
bing his calf, confirm-
ing your instinctive suspicion: leg cramp. For a second, you pause, sizing
up the situation: no immediate danger, but the diver has no regulator or
snorkel in his mouth, and his BCD is empty. He’s kicking with one leg
to stay at the surface while he massages his calf.
You hand your camera to your buddy, and with three strong kicks, reach
the diver.
“Let me help you. Are you okay?” you ask.
“Leg cramp,” the diver puffs, breathing hard as he fights to keep his
head out of the water.
Introduction 7
“Relax. Is this better?” you ask, inflating his BCD.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Put your foot on my chest,” you suggest. The diver does, and you mas-
sage his calf, helping him stretch the muscle. “How’s that?”
“Much better, thanks,” he says, lying back to relax.
“Good.” With that, you grasp him gently under his arm and begin to
push him toward the dive boat.
“I think I can swim back now,” the diver says when you’re about half
way to the boat.
“Okay,” you say, “but if you start to
cramp again, just say so. It’s no big
deal to give you a ride.”
“Thanks.”
The diver makes it back under his
own power. Later, he pauses to
thank you for your help.
“Well, I didn’t really do much, but
you’re welcome. I’ve had leg cramps
myself, and I knew it’s easier to
relieve them if someone holds your
foot,” you reply, “And, by the way,
that was smart to ask for a hand.
Sometimes people won’t ask for help
until they’re in serious trouble.”
8 PADI Rescue Diver Manual
The previous situation typifies the most common assist
divers encounter. At first glance, it might not look like
it takes any more knowledge and training than when
you learned how to assist a tired diver as a PADI
Open Water Diver. However, the skills of a rescue diver may be
subtle, and it’s worth looking closer:
First, you (the rescuer) were mentally and physically prepared
to handle the matter. Then, you accurately assessed the situation,
noting that because the diver wasn’t buoyant and wasn’t breathing
from his regulator or snorkel, if you didn’t intervene, the problem
could potentially become more serious. Next, you acted decisively
and correctly, first preventing the situation from becoming worse,
and then to relieve the diver’s immedi-
ate difficulty (the cramp). Finally, once
aboard, you delicately managed the
diver’s feelings by reinforcing the deci-
sion to ask for help and by not acting
like a hero at his expense. These are
all principles and techniques that you’ll
learn and master as you become certi-
fied as a PADI Rescue Diver.
When you first learned to dive in
the PADI Open Water Diver course,
you focused primarily on yourself and
mastered knowledge and skills for tak-
ing care of yourself underwater. In the
Adventures in Diving program, your
focus broadened to include the envi-
ronment in a variety of situations. In the
Most certified PADI Rescue
PADI Rescue Diver course, you’re about to enter the next stage, in Divers look back on their rescue
training as one of the most chal-
which your focus broadens further to include other divers.
lenging
The PADI Rescue Diver program prepares you to help pre- – sometimes demanding – and
therefore most rewarding pro-
vent, and if necessary, manage dive emergencies, minor and
grams they’ve taken.
major, with a variety of techniques. What you’re about to learn will The subject is serious, but the
training is fun.
improve your skill and confidence as a diver, and prepare you to
move on to the PADI Master Scuba Diver and PADI Divemaster
levels. Most certified PADI Rescue Divers look back on their res-
cue training as one of the most challenging – sometimes demand-
ing – and therefore most rewarding programs they’ve taken. The
subject is serious, but the training is fun.
Introduction 9
