DeeperBlue.com headed over to the Divers Alert Network booth at DEMA Show 2014 today in Las Vegas to find out about the next big thing in dive safety.
A household name in the industry, most of us know DAN as the provider of incomparable insurance for dive-related medical needs, scuba gear and destination travel, but in diving as with anything, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
We sat down with Panchabi Vaithiyanathan and Steve Jamroz to talk about the major safety awareness initiative they’re launching this year.
Every year, DAN is on the receiving end of more than a million visits to their website and hotline, and about half of those hits are from divers seeking answers to health-related questions. To meet that need, the folks at DAN got together their best scientists and doctors to get answers to the hard questions and teamed them up with their design and marketing people to develop a three-phase plan for getting the information out to where it needs to be: among the divers.
Phase one is a print media campaign. These brochures, smart guides and public service pamphlets are hot off the presses — they almost didn’t make in time for DEMA. These materials are available to anyone who wants them and cover topics like heart health and ear afflictions as they relate to diving, as well as poisonous organism information, safe boating practices, and advice on how to avoid rapid air consumption. Next up, in phase two, DAN‘s working to make all these same materials available online in the next thirty to sixty days.
To round out the package, phase three will take that information and package it into a smartphone app so anyone can have access to dive safety information anywhere in the world at any time, day or night.
Long recognized as an industry leader in dive safety and training, DAN is not resting on its laurels. Three more smart guides are in the works, beginning with DCS, to be followed soon after by a guide on fitness for diving and then a tract on women’s particular diving health concerns (think pregnancy).
Expect more to come in the form of checklists, video clips and great safety tips as DAN continues its mission to minimize accidents and fatalities in the dive industry.
To learn more about what’s already out and what’s coming soon, check out DAN’s Health Issues and Diving webpage.
— Erin Durbin-Sherer
