KIS: What happened?

By Jean-Marc Claes

 

KIS: Keep It Simple

 

It is a principle often used in many situations, sports, companies, routines, and so much more to eliminate/lessen danger or simplify situations that can become dangerous.

 

In the dive industry, the KIS principle has its place as well. The KIS principle has been used a lot during the last 75 years of developing dive gear.

 

The industry wants to produce safe dive gear, so the FAIL-SAFE regulator’s development is an excellent example of enhancing safety for scuba divers.

 

Do you know what the FAIL-SAFE principle is within the regulator (*)?

 

During the 80s and 90s, lots of dive gear was developed as the scuba industry was in its golden years.

 

Many people discovered the new sport of scuba diving, and the success was enormous. New companies were started to develop and offer the best in scuba gear.

 

In the Golden Years, scuba equipment was desired by novice scuba divers, although it took more than 20 years, approximately 2005, for the industry to start using different colours in scuba gear. It was not until 2008 that the first pink-coloured dive gear was visible in scuba gear catalogues. Are you wondering what colours were used before 2008? Black, black, black and dark blue, and if you were lucky, some red as well.

 

Do colours make a difference? Yes, they do!

 

In advancing safety, we learned that bright orange or bright yellow can make a difference in visibility. Life jackets and street worker’s clothes are orange or yellow vests to be better visible in the traffic. So why do we like the colour black used so much in scuba diving gear? In some specific scuba diving activities or groups, it is even a ‘must’ to have all back gear.

 

To be entirely different here, my personal gear is bright yellow, including a bright yellow BCD, a yellow mask & fins and even a bright yellow dive suit. I mean, a banana could fall in love with me!

 

These colours have been my trademark for about 20 years, and my students/buddies love them as they can always see where I am hanging around. After being lost in the Galapagos for just a few hours, I knew why all my gear was yellow, and on top of that, I had a bright yellow SMB seven feet long, with a closed valve so that I could wave it around. I was found because I was a yellow spot in the ocean!

 

I had my first yellow BCD made on request. The company I contacted thought I had lost it, so I requested a yellow BCD. One year later, they understood and started manufacturing over 15 coloured BCD models. Even today, Audaxpro ( https://www.audaxpro.com/ ) offers a choice of colours when ordering their products!

 

So, let’s look at some details of what manufacturers offer and what we, trained scuba divers, do with it.

 

The first thing that comes to my mind is the ‘dust cap’ on the regulator’s first stage. What is the actual use of it? It will be used at the surface (while NOT diving) to ensure no water/dust enters the first stage when not connected to the dive tank!

 

For example, when rinsing the regulator, we do not want water entering the first stage.

 

Guess what? Most scuba divers take the dust cap on their scuba dive (below the surface) because it’s attached to the first stage, mainly with a string. So that gives what result? You are taking an utterly non-USEFUL item below the surface, creating a possible new problem (entanglement). Even more, AFTER the dive, the dust cap is WET! So, to use it and place it back on the first stage after the dive, you need to dry it. Most scuba divers will use air from the dive tank to blow the water off the cap, creating the horrible (loud) noise of the high-pressure air escaping from the dive tank, mostly scaring bystanders. To begin with, it is a completely unnecessary act if you leave the dust cap at the surface.

 

So, let’s go, KIS:

 

Why do you take the dust cap below the surface in the first place? Is it simply because we stopped thinking for ourselves as the manufacturer decided to connect the dust cap to the regulator in a more secure (not to lose it) way? When checking out some models from the same manufacturer over the last years, I even concluded that they evolved from a separated dust cap to an attached dust cap over the years…safety evolution backwards?

 

Regarding this dust cap, I had an interesting conversation with Manuel Cabrera, Vice President of Product Design at the Aqualung group. A few years ago, Aqualung designed and introduced the Auto Closure Device (ACD) in its first stages. The ACD was the answer to current scuba divers’ lack of knowledge. To prevent water from entering the first stage while rinsing after the dive, Aqualung designed a “foolproof’’ system in which the first stage automatically closes when disconnected from the scuba tank. There is no need to place the dust cap on the first stage for rinsing as the first stage air entrance is closed. Why did Aqualung go through all this trouble designing the ACD and adding it to most of its first stages? To make it safer, more user-friendly, and last longer.

 

And what happened to the dust cap? It is NOT attached to the first stage, so you can leave it nice and dry in the dive bag while going out for your next dive adventure. It’s a perfect combination of KIS and foolproof.

 

Do you check your dive setup in the KIS way?

• What do you take below the surface?
• Is it all necessary?
• What about safety devices?
  • Do you carry a dive knife? Did you ever use it? Can you use it?
  • Where is it located? Size? Grip?
  • Did you test it with gloves on?

 

Please send your comments to our Facebook group ScubaBiz.Help and join us in the discussions to increase safety in diving, as our motto is in our name: ScubaBiz.Help

 

*FAIL SAFE: the fail-safe principle within a regulator is the fact that all valves are opening downstream, so when a failure within the regulator rises, the valves will never block airflow but instead release the pressure/airflow towards the scuba diver, allowing always to keep on breathing as long as the scuba tank has gas.