How to Write a Dive Emergency Action Plan

Step 1: Gather your site-specific information first

• The dive site's physical address or GPS coordinates
• The fastest vehicle or boat route in for emergency responders, including gate codes or access restrictions
• The local emergency number -- don't assume it's 911, especially outside the U.S. or at remote/international sites
• Whether cell coverage is reliable at the site, and your backup communication method (marine VHF, satellite communicator)
• The nearest hospital or clinic capable of handling a diving injury, its address, phone number, and realistic travel time
• The nearest hyperbaric/recompression chamber and its travel time -- often a different facility than the nearest hospital
• DAN's 24-hour Diving Emergency Line: +1-919-684-9111 (call local EMS first, then DAN for diving-specific medical guidance)

Step 2: Inventory your emergency equipment

• Where the emergency oxygen kit is physically located, and when it was last inspected
• Where the first aid kit is, and whether its contents are current and unexpired
• Whether an AED is on site or nearby
• Who on your team is currently certified in oxygen administration and first aid

Step 3: Assign roles before you need them

• Who calls EMS
• Who provides direct care to the injured diver
• Who retrieves the O2 and first aid kit
• Who manages other divers and bystanders
• Who accounts for the rest of the team

Step 4: Share medical information within the team

Every diver should tell their buddy, and dive staff for guided or professional trips, about relevant allergies or medical conditions before the dive. DAN's own recommendation for anyone uncomfortable saying it out loud is to write it down, seal it in an envelope, and tell your buddy where it is -- whatever the format, someone other than the diver needs access to this information if the diver can't communicate it themselves.

Someone not diving -- shore contact, boat crew, dive shop -- should also know the dive plan and expected return time. That's the trigger that starts a search if a team doesn't surface on schedule.

Step 5: Choose your format and fill it in

• PADI Emergency Action Plan Template -- structured around the Emergency Assistance Plan concept taught in PADI's Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses
• DAN Emergency Action Plan Template -- built directly from Divers Alert Network's published EAP framework
• Generic Dive Emergency Action Plan Template -- agency-neutral, same four core categories, available as a free digital plan or a $14 fillable PDF

Step 6: Post it and review it

Print a copy for the boat or the shop, and keep a digital copy accessible on a phone with no signal required -- a laminated sheet taped inside a dive locker does more good than a perfect PDF buried in someone's email.

Review it on a schedule. Facilities close, phone numbers change, first aid supplies expire, and dive buddies come and go. DAN recommends reviewing your EAP every few months at minimum -- more often if you're diving a new site or your team has turned over.

Common mistakes worth avoiding

• Writing one generic EAP for every site you dive -- travel times and nearest chambers change site to site
• Assuming DAN replaces local EMS -- call local emergency services first
• No named roles -- "we'll figure it out" is not a plan
• Never updating it -- a stale EAP gives false confidence, which is worse than knowing you don't have one
• Treating overhead environments the same as open water -- wreck and cave sites add evacuation complexity a standard EAP doesn't cover well