[Humber Coastguard]

Mark

I think you're getting the wrong end of the stick.

If a diver REQUESTS O2 there is a reason - the diver is worried that they may be liable to suffer from DCI, why else request O2? That fear may be real or imagined but who is to tell which? By informing the Coastguard should the diver's fears become reality we are prepared and can get the diver to a chamber in a much shorter time. That saved time could mean the difference between a full recovery and permanent paralysis or even death.

Let me emphasise, we do not tie up valuable SAR resources and recompression chambers just to inconvenience divers. If a diver doesn't need to go to a chamber he doesn't go. If we sent every diver we got a call about we'd need a lot more helicopters.

Boat skippers who call the Coastguards are not putting diver's lives at risk, the only people who are doing that are the divers themselves by refusing to allow a skipper to call us.

Divers who are concerned about DCI should ENSURE that the Coastguard are informed rather than going into DENIAL.

Paul