The SSI Diver Stress and Rescue course is one of the most important and highly regarded diving courses, transforming you from a safe diver into a responsible partner capable of saving lives. Instead of focusing solely on your own skills, you’ll learn to identify fatigue and stress in others, prevent accidents, and effectively manage emergency situations both underwater and on the surface.
What will you learn in this course?
- Recognizing Stress: You’ll learn how early mental and physical symptoms in yourself or your partner can lead to panic.
- Accident Prevention: You’ll learn techniques for avoiding emergency situations before you even enter the water.
- Rescue Procedures: You will practice retrieving an unconscious diver, performing artificial respiration in the water, and towing.
- Crisis Management: You will learn how to lead a surface rescue operation and organize a search for a missing person. [1, 2, 3, 4]
1. Dive Physics The main factor determining the underwater environment is hydrostatic pressure, which increases by 1 atm for every 10 meters of depth in seawater. Three universal gas laws are of key importance in dive physics: [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Boyle–Mariotte’s Law: Expresses the relationship P ⋅ V = const (at constant temperature). An increase in pressure (P) causes a proportional decrease in the volume (V) of a gas. This explains why the lungs, mask, and buoyancy control device (BCD) contract during descent and expand during ascent. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- Dalton’s Law: It states that the total pressure of a gas mixture is the sum of the partial pressures of its individual components (\(P_{\text{tot}} = P_1 + P_2 + \dots + P_n\)). As depth increases, the partial pressures of oxygen (ppO₂) and nitrogen (ppN₂) rise, which directly affects their toxicity to the body. [1]
- Henry’s Law: States that the amount of gas dissolved in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas above the liquid. This law explains the mechanism by which nitrogen is absorbed by a diver’s tissues while at depth.
Prerequisites: To enroll in SSI training, you must meet the following requirements:
- Age: Must be at least 12 years old.
- Certification: Must hold an Open Water Diver (OWD) certification or equivalent.
- First Aid: Current training in first aid, CPR, and oxygen administration (e.g., SSI React Right or EFR course), completed within the last 24 months.