Ti-Dragon Enterprises

Public Safety Diver courses - Awareness Level - Top-Side Rescue - Dive Tender/Profiler - Public Safety Diver I - Public Safety Diver II - Public Safety Diver III - Public Safety Master Diver - Public Safety DiveMaster - Public Safety Dive Instructor - Advanced Specialties

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Training for Public Safety Divers

Over the years, divers for fire and law enforcement agencies have consistently had evolving jobs. In the past, training and expectations were judged by recreational diving standards. If you could dive in clear water or swimming pools, you could dive in rivers, too. Unfortunately, the folks making those judgments usually were not divers; and if you were certified to dive, you dove.

In the past, divers have been used to perform underwater recoveries of bodies, vehicles and other items. Sometimes these recoveries were accompanied by fishhook dragging operations. While we did a fair job of recovering things, we tended to do so with a salvage mentality.

In today's world, these same individuals have become specialists in their fields. Their training still starts with recreational SCUBA, but the ideology and expectations have changed. As time has progressed, techniques, equipment and respect for the divers has allowed the Public Safety Diver to evolve. Now, public safety divers are more apt to have the ability, equipment and skills to perform underwater investigations as well as recoveries.

As public safety divers, these specialists no longer use salvage techniques to locate and recover bodies and other potential evidence. Rather, they treat every drowning incident as if it were a crime and act as the eyes and hands of the police and other investigators in aquatic environments. They know how to recover and preserve items that have been disposed of underwater as well as how to preserve and document a potential crime scene. In short, public safety divers have become an extremely valuable criminal investigation asset.

Levels of Certification

As declared by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there are three levels of certification for those who respond to water-related emergencies: Awareness, Operational and Technician.

Awareness Level

Anyone who responds to a water rescue or recovery should be trained at least to the awareness level. This level should have a minimum of four hours of training. The goal of this training is to prevent further injuries and problems at the scene.

Operational Level

This level consists of shore or boat based tasks. The team members are the Tenders and the Profilers, who essentially direct the course of the dive operation.

• Tender: most important people on the site, they have the greatest responsibility: taking care of the needs of the diver. They are the ones who know exactly what is going on at the scene.
• Profiler: records the progress of the search by keeping a map showing exactly where the divers have been and what areas were covered. The profiler generally is the backup diver.

Technician Level

The technician level of training requires extensive knowledge, skills, training and special equipment. Diving technicians may be assigned one of three roles:

• Primary Diver: diver's role in a low or no visibility environment is to search the bottom as directed by the tender. He is the tender's eyes.
• Backup Diver: must be ready to act as the replacement for the primary diver. He must also be ready to supply assistance if the primary runs into trouble.
• Ninety-Percent-Ready Diver: is actually a second backup diver. This is a good contingency plan. Because of the complex nature of diving, it's always possible that the backup diver will experience a problem when called.

Divers must meet certain requirements to certify for the Dive Technician Levels. The candidates must hold sport diving certifications up to rescue diver, which we can provide. The candidate must also hold an Awareness Level certificate.

Ti-Dragon Enterprises can act as consultants, helping you set up an operational dive team. This includes the fundamentals of dive team operations, from training to recommending Standards of Operations and equipment.

Why PSDA & WR?

The Public Safety Diving Association is a completely separate entity and corporation from any sport diving associations. PSDA&WR is dedicated to the establishment and maintenance of standards of practice for all areas and types of public safety diving and water rescue. Concerned with applying state of the art public safety diving techniques, training, methodologies; and water rescue techniques, including the training and certification of water rescue instructors, water safety instructors and lifeguards.

All PSDA & Water rescue programs and standards meet or exceed established standards and procedures set by NFPA, IFSTA, POST, ANSI, RSTC and WRSTC.