DAN Instructor Trainer Workshop July 2009 by Marco Scilipoti

A DAN Instructor Trainer Workshop was held in Italy last month at Lecco, beside Lake Como. It was attended by nine Instructor Trainers, all hailing from Italy, and was conducted by Alberto Rota who is a PADI Course Director and the Regional Manager for DAN Italy. The Workshop was conducted over three very intense days including theory and practical elements. In November, there will be a further Instructor Trainer Workshop held in the UK by DAN for any interested participants.

The attendees were able to refresh their practical skills relating to all the courses offered by DAN which include Basic Life Support (BLS) – Primary & Secondary Care, Oxygen for Diving Emergencies, Automated External Defibrillator (AED), First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries (HMLI) and Primary Neurological Assessment. The courses offered by DAN are valuable and informative and play a great role in aquatic safety, not just specifically relating to SCUBA diving.

Also, the DAN  training philosophy is unique and makes the learning experience for students up to Instructor Trainers a manageable and effective way to learn, incorporating a theory element and also practical applications of every skill in ‘real-time’ with all the different situations which you can have in scenarios and in ‘slow time’ showing the key-points of the skill in individual detail. This is a great aid to teaching and learning.

It seems a real shame that diving Instructors and Instructor Trainers do not do more to receive this kind of education for themselves and to promote these courses with the general public to create more interest and knowledge. If we as Instructors and Trainers do not really know how to handle an emergency situation it is very difficult to explain the importance of this knowledge and to teach how to be prepared for an emergency situation.

If you came across an emergency situation, would you know what to do? Learning how to prevent, minimise or manage an emergency should be of vital importance for many people, including swimmers, lifeguards and for sure SCUBA divers and Instructors. Additionally, being able to properly recognise symptoms in yourself to minimise a situation is a real benefit.

DAN operates a worldwide membership programme and 24 hour assistance for its Members and is also very active in medical, hyperbaric and other research relating to aquatic safety. The Quarterly Members’ Magazine – Alert Diver – presents very interesting medical articles and discussion of real cases in ‘laymans’ terms.

DAN also produces an Annual Accident Report, which collates all the information relating to aquatic incidents which they receive each year worldwide and it makes interesting reading, particularly if you are working in an aquatic environment. Most SCUBA training organisations make reference to this Report in their risk management sections of Instructor level courses because they realise the importance of all professional level staff having a knowledge of the risks related with diving and other aquatic activities. Please click on the DAN flag below to follow the link to the most recent Accident Report.

In Europe and elsewhere in the world, safety in aquatic activities is becoming more a focus of individual country regulations and there is a proposal currently in discussion for EC Member States to adopt regulations for diving operators to have all their members of staff certified to use Emergency Oxygen for Primary Care.

“Safety through Education” is becoming vitally important to saving lives in the SCUBA and associated industries.