Back in 1990, an old supervisor told me to always check my own air

I was fresh out of dive school, working on a bridge repair job in Mobile, Alabama. My supervisor, a grizzled guy named Roy, told me to never trust anyone else's air test. I thought he was just being paranoid. Six months later, a tender mixed up the bottles and I got a lungful of something that tasted like exhaust. Ended up in the chamber for 4 hours and learned my lesson the hard way. I still check my own air to this day. Anyone else have a close call that could have been avoided?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarag281mo ago

Double check your own gear every time no matter who's watching you... just takes one second of distraction to end up in a bad spot. I always crack my valve and take a quick sniff before I even step off the boat. That little habit has saved me more than once with contaminated bottles or crossed lines.

benc531mo ago

Three out of four times that sniff told me nothing useful honestly.