Course Introduction

This entry level emergency response diving course is designed to give the public safety diver the fundamental skills needed to safely function as part of a public safety dive team and is OSHA and NFPA compliant. Topics such as problem solving, tender skills, search patterns and evidence handling are covered just to name a few. Dive skills include executing search patterns, victim recovery, emergency procedures and decontamination procedures among others. ERDI also serves as a prerequisite to ERD Ops Components courses.

Course Requirements

To attend our program, you must be:

  • Advanced Open Water Diver or qualifying equivalent certification
  • 18 years of age
  • Proof of affiliation/employment with a public safety team (law enforcement, fire, paramedic, EMT, dive rescue team, etc.)

Please note that only individuals employed in fields such as law enforcement, fire suppression and emergency services are qualified to take our program. This program lays out an excellent foundation for dive team members with little or no experience but will also work well for experienced divers wanting to refresh basic skills and learn new public safety diving techniques.

Diving Equipment Needed

You will need the following materials and equipment for this program:

  • Two Cutting Devices (shears, knife, seat belt cutter, etc.)
  • Two Scuba Cylinders – 80 cubic feet or larger
  • Two surface signaling devices (whistle, surface marker buoy, etc.)
  • All personal standard dive equipment
  • Pocket mask
  • Log book

Course Topics

In our ERDI Public Safety Diving course we’ve designed it to familiarize you with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques and hazards of public safety diving. The course covers several key topics that include:

  • Specialized public safety diving equipment
  • Scene handling
  • Communication procedures
  • Search patterns
  • Witness handling
  • Victim and self-rescue techniques

Water skills include a variety of common, useful search patterns as well as team diving roles as primary diver, safety diver, tender, 90 percent diver and supervisor. The program uses proven field techniques, and both meets and addresses important National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines found in NFPA 1006 and 1670 (not including disciplines Ice 9/3/7, Surf 9.2.8, or Swift 9.3.9).

Course Scheduling

Our program is conducted over three days, using a combination of:

Classroom presentations: two presentations of four hours each
Practical application sessions: three practical applications of three hours each
Open water dives: four dives over the three days

Confined water sessions may be added to introduce new skills or equipment to the class. The student diver must demonstrate accurate and adequate knowledge and performance of all skills fluidly with little difficulty, in a manner that demonstrates minimal or no stress during the Open Water dives.

Course Fees

$500.00 for divers
$300.00 per non-diver

The above price includes the following:

  • Store Fees, Instructor Fees, ERDI Public Safety Diver Manual; ERDI certification fees, and certificates
  • Use of other Public Safety Diving equipment not supplied by the host agency
  • Tender-diver laminated signal cards for each diver & tender

Class size is limited to 20 divers and 10 tenders. For any number of divers less than 20, the same number of tenders can replace them. All divers must show certification cards and some type of dive log book upon our arrival.