Erin McFadden from 2011 European Rolex Scholar experience on completing HSE Scuba and First Aid Course.  As the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society 2011 European Rolex Scholar I have an incredible opportunity to explore the world in search of exciting, beneficial and extraordinary diving experiences. At the beginning of my scholarship year a whole host of potential diving projects and courses worth pursuing were pointed out to me. One course, which stood out as being extremely beneficial and worthwhile, was the HSE Scuba course. The majority of people looking to complete this course do so as a starting point to becoming
a commercial diver. My motive, however, was related to scientific and media work. Being employed as a diver in these fields within the UK, or with a UK organization/company will often require this qualification, and in many circumstances it is compulsory.
I was fortunate enough for Andy Goddard - Andark Diving and Watersports Director - to offer me a place on the HSE Scuba course running at Andark during late July. Of course I jumped at the chance!
The course has a few pre-requsites including a chamber awareness course; first- aid at work course and completing a HSE medical. I was able to complete my first-aid at work course with Andark prior to the start of the course and thus I spent 3 days running through the necessary knowledge and practical scenarios.
Having completed first aid courses before it is easy to become complacent with your first-aid skills and abilities. I found it very beneficial to refresh my skills. The course was thorough and included a lot of hands on experience – which is extremely useful in gearing you up to effectively deal with a real life situation should it ever arise.
The HSE Scuba course itself was quite an experience! There is a lot to take in - I have never completed a diving course in which I have learned such an array of useful skills and information. Although geared towards training commercial divers, this is by no means a one-trick course. During the 10 day course I learned about seamanship; compressor use; equipment; safety standards; decompression tables and of course how to dive commercially. As such I completed the course with an abundance of new skills, knowledge and experiences.
Learning how to use a full face mask was exciting and totally new to me. It is incredible how quickly you can adapt to it and become comfortable using it. And of course the full face mask allows for underwater voice communications. Having become used to diving without an ability to communicate other than
hand signals it was rather novel to be speaking to my instructors on the surface as I was diving. Another new aspect for me was being tied to a lifeline – which is simply a rope keeping you attached to the surface. Radio communication can be incorporated into this lifeline, or you can communicate through it via a series of predefined tugs. Useful if radio communications fail! Some dives required using normal scuba gear, and indeed I became so used to diving with the full face mask by the end of the week that I was surprised with I did see a regular second stage hanging over my right shoulder!
The dives I completed during the course involved an array of different tasks and skills including underwater construction, mapping, communications and rescues. As such each dive is a new challenge and the course is engaging throughout. With such a range of different tasks to complete you certainly become a better diver by the end of the course. When you have a significant task to complete you must ensure your dive skills are to a high standard - you cannot think of everything at once. As such I found myself maintaining buoyancy and good buddy contact; checking air supply and depth without thought. It becomes second nature to complete these skills as you go about the main task in hand. What’s more you learn how to become very comfortable in the water in spite of the conditions,
and indeed I experienced a variety of different conditions during the course. I completed boat dives out of Portland Harbour; inland quarry dives at Vobster Quay; dives in the Hamble River and a night dive. Conditions ranged from sand, rock, mud and silt bottoms and visibility from 10m to well less than 1m! Temperature ranged from 19°C to 6°C. When you are diving to complete a task these conditions will negate the safety aspects and logistics of a dive. However, if there is 1m visibility, a muddy bottom and 6°C water you will still dive. Again – this course makes you a better, hardier diver.
In total I spent nearly 3 weeks at Andark and it was a huge pleasure to complete my first-aid and HSE Scuba courses with them. Every member of staff was very welcoming and most importantly had a great enthusiasm for diving and the dive centre as a whole. The courses were thorough and taught to a high standard.
Despite the HSE Scuba course requiring a serious head it still allowed room for plenty laughs and enjoyment! |
