Heard a surface guy say comms checks are a waste of time - who else thinks that's crazy?

I was on a job off the coast of Louisiana last week helping with a pipeline inspection, and I overheard one of the tender guys telling a new diver that doing comms checks every 10 minutes is just slowing things down. He said if the radio's working, why keep testing it. But I've had two buddies get into serious trouble when comms cut out mid-job and nobody knew for 5 minutes. Doesn't that just beg for an accident, or am I being too cautious about gear checks? What do you all do on your dives?

2 comments

2 Comments

aarons361d ago

Only one comms check for an entire dive? That's insane. I've seen a radio go bad halfway through a job even with fresh batteries, just from a cable getting pinched somewhere you can't see. One of my buddies had to abort a job under a pier because his voice got all garbled and nobody caught it until he was already 20 minutes into the wrong cutting pattern. A quick check every 10 minutes takes maybe 15 seconds and keeps everyone on the same page.

ruby_grant5d ago

Oh come on, you're being way too dramatic. A comms check every 10 minutes? That's like checking your front door lock six times before bed. Modern dive radios are rock solid unless you're using junk equipment. Fresh batteries, good maintenance, you're fine. I've done hundreds of dives on production platforms where we checked once at the start and once at turnaround. Never had a problem. All that constant checking does is waste time and annoy the surface crew. If the gear is good, it's good. Trust your kit and get the job done.