Good scuba safety starts before entering the water. Training, preparation, equipment checks, conservative planning, and clear communication help divers manage risk. No checklist can eliminate every hazard, so dive within your training and experience and cancel when conditions or readiness are not suitable.
Before the dive
- Check your fitness to dive. Do not dive when impaired by alcohol or recreational drugs, unusually fatigued, or unwell. Discuss relevant medical conditions and medications with a qualified medical professional familiar with diving.
- Stay current with training. Keep your certification and skills appropriate for the planned depth, environment, and activity. Seek a refresher or additional instruction if you have been out of the water for a long time.
- Plan with your buddy. Agree on the site, depth and time limits, gas plan, entry and exit, communication signals, separation procedures, and emergency plan.
- Inspect equipment. Check your BCD, regulator, cylinder and valve, weights, exposure suit, mask, fins, computer, and any required accessories. Use equipment according to training and manufacturer instructions.
- Review conditions. Check currents, weather, visibility, water temperature, surf, boat traffic, and local site rules. Choose a different site or cancel if conditions exceed the team’s ability.
During the dive
- Stay with your buddy and maintain communication and awareness of the surroundings.
- Monitor depth, time, breathing-gas supply, and buoyancy throughout the dive.
- Remain within your planned depth, gas, and no-decompression limits and follow your dive computer and training.
- Descend and ascend in a controlled manner, equalize early, and never hold your breath while scuba diving.
- End the dive before you reach a critical gas reserve or feel pressured to continue.
- Avoid touching marine life, entering overhead environments without the required training, or approaching hazards for a photograph.
When to cancel or end a dive
Cancel before entry if equipment is not functioning, your buddy is not ready, conditions are unsuitable, or you do not feel well. During the dive, communicate early if you feel cold, anxious, short of breath, disoriented, or unable to follow the plan. Follow your training to end the dive safely rather than trying to push through a problem.
After surfacing
Follow the dive plan for post-dive procedures, hydrate appropriately, and record relevant details in your log. Respect the required interval before flying or travelling to altitude after diving, using the guidance from your training agency and dive computer. If symptoms after a dive may indicate an injury, seek urgent medical evaluation and tell the medical team you have been diving.
Use reliable safety guidance
Review Divers Alert Network’s safe-diving practices and your current training materials. The safest dive is one that matches the diver, equipment, team, and conditions—and one that everyone is prepared to cancel.
A practical scuba diving safety routine
Safe diving starts well before the water entry. Review the site briefing, weather, currents, entry and exit points, planned depth, maximum dive time, gas-turn pressure, and the procedure for a lost buddy. Check that your certification and recent experience match the conditions. If you have symptoms of illness, congestion, unusual fatigue, or a medical concern, tell the dive professional and postpone the dive when appropriate. Do not use medication to conceal symptoms without qualified medical advice.
Equipment and buddy checks
Use a consistent pre-dive check that includes cylinder pressure, regulator function, buoyancy compensator inflation and deflation, weight system, releases, alternate air source, computer, and exposure protection. Confirm that each diver understands how to signal low gas, end the dive, share gas, and respond to a problem. Keep the check collaborative rather than rushing through it as a formality. If equipment behaves unexpectedly, resolve the issue on the surface before starting.
During and after the dive
Stay within training and agreed limits, maintain buddy contact, monitor gas and depth, and adjust the plan when conditions change. Ascend in a controlled manner following your computer and training, breathe continuously, and complete any planned stop when conditions permit. After surfacing, account for everyone, discuss any equipment concern, and record useful details in your logbook. Seek urgent medical assessment for symptoms that could indicate a diving injury, and contact emergency services or a diving-medicine resource when needed.