For dive centres

The emergency plan and the data behind it

An emergency plan is written on a day when nothing happens and needed on a day when everyone is under pressure. Which is why its value is decided less by thoroughness than by reachability.

What goes in it

Emergency numbers for the country you operate in - and the nearest recompression chamber, with distance and route.
Where the oxygen is and who may administer it.
Who does what: who stays with the casualty, who calls, who fetches the records, who meets the ambulance.
What the medics need: dive profile, times, gas mix, pre-existing conditions, medication.
Next-of-kin numbers - and the language somebody can speak to them in.

The decisive point

Half of this information sits in your guests' check-in records. If those are in a binder under the counter and the accident happens on the boat, they are useless. Emergency contacts and relevant health details belong where the guide is: on a phone.

Why health data is collected for exactly this

The medical questionnaire is not an administrative act; it is preparation for this day. A doctor who learns that the patient takes beta blockers or is asthmatic works differently. That is also the answer to why a centre may store such data at all: it needs it for the safety of its guests - which means it must be reachable in an emergency, not merely present.

Practise it, do not just print it

Run through it once a season, ideally with new staff: who calls, who fetches the records, where is the oxygen? It takes twenty minutes and is the only way to find out whether the plan lives in people's heads rather than in a folder.

And the guests?

Your guests should know what happens if something happens - at the latest during the briefing. In Diver ID you can publish your emergency plan so divers can see it; conversely you see their emergency contacts. These two directions belong together and are, in practice, the part most often missing.

Frequently asked questions

What belongs in a dive centre emergency plan?

Local emergency numbers, route and distance to the nearest chamber, the oxygen location, a clear division of roles, and access to the dive profile, health details and emergency contact of the guest.

Where should guests’ emergency contacts live?

Where your team is when it counts - on the guide’s phone, not in the binder at the desk. Accidents rarely happen in the office.

Are we allowed to store health data for this?

Yes, that is exactly what it is collected for. The condition is that only the people who need it for safety have access - which is what staff accounts with individual permissions are for.

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