New Law for Diving in Spain
It used to be a legal requirement in Spain and its territories
that all divers must have an annual medical check-up for diving and
a doctor's certificate. However, in July 2020 a new law (Real
Decreto 550/2020) was passed and divers need only complete the World
Recreational Scuba Training Council's (WRSTC) medical statement. As
long as all answers are 'No' then no medical examination is needed.
If there are any 'Yes' answers then a certificate from a doctor will
be required.
This new law states that children aged 8 - 9 can
only have simple dive experiences to 6m, children aged 10 -11 can
commence training to 12m, and from 13- 15 to 21m.
What is deep breathing?
Dr Laura Walton has produced an excellent course on breathing for divers. This will be useful for both novice divers and those with experience that wish to understand and improve their gas consumption whilst diving. It can be accessed on the Fit to Dive website (previously scubapsyche brand.) It is currently provided free of charge.
DAN Europe: The Travelling Diver Guide
DAN Europe have published a guide for The Travelling Diver. This is available at The Travelling Diver. This is a must read for any diver that plans to dive abroad.
DAN Risk Assessment Guide
The DAN Risk Assessment Guide for Dive Operators and Dive Professionals is the industry’s most comprehensive guide for refining the safety of your recreational dive operation, and the most recent edition is now available FOR FREE as a downloadable PDF. Download your copy now at https://apps.dan.org/Publication-Library/ and select "HIRA Guide 2nd Edition 2019".
Whether you are starting a new dive operation or just working to make yours even safer, this guide will make things easier. It outlines the minimum safety recommendations for recreational diving operations and alerts you to risks and hazards that occur in all facets of a dive business or operation, helping you to completely avoid or effectively manage incidents and accidents. The DAN Risk Assessment Guide for Dive Operators and Dive Professionals gives the professionals who put divers in the water every day the insight they need to make their operations as safe as possible.Diving Medicine Conference - 28th & 29th November 2019
The biannual UKDMC and BHA conference is being held in Hull this year. It is aimed at diving and hyperbaric doctors and anyone interested in underwater medicine. More information - click here.
KnO2wledge XII: The underwater world - 18th November 2019
Organised by the extreme physiology department at University College, London, held at the Royal Society of Medicine. It is aimed at doctors, medical students, scientists and divers interested in medical issues experienced whilst being immersed in water. Internationally recognised speakers will be presenting and this promises to be an informative and fascinating day. More information - click here.
Time for a new website!
The old websites have served us well for over 15 years. They were
programmed in FrontPage, which is no longer available, and many
platforms no longer support the FrontPage extensions. Another
problem recently has been support for Flash which featured
prominently on the index pages.
Previously we had two websites,
Scuba4Fun.org.uk aimed at the recreational diving sector, and
UKoffshoreMedicals.co.uk aimed at the commercial diving and offshore
sectors. We have made the decision to combine both websites as there
was some confusion caused by working under two banners.
This is
the result, with a fresh brighter look - we hope you like it.