PADI Emergency Action Plan Template
A PADI-style Emergency Action Plan -- what PADI's Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses call an Emergency Assistance Plan -- organizes four things before anything goes wrong: how to reach EMS, where your emergency equipment is, who's doing what, and where the nearest medical and recompression facilities are. PADI doesn't hand out one official fill-in-the-blank form; the standard is that you build a plan specific to your site, your team, and your local resources.
Address, coordinates, entry point, road access
Local emergency number, coverage, who calls
Oxygen, first aid, AED locations
Nearest facility, DAN contact, travel time
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Get the template -- $14 instant downloadWhy divemasters and instructors need a dedicated EAP
Most dive accidents aren't caused by one catastrophic failure -- they're caused by small delays stacking up. Nobody knew the hospital's exact address. The O2 kit was in the other car. Two people tried to call EMS while nobody actually did CPR. A written, rehearsed EAP removes those decision points before a diver's judgment is at its worst, not during it.
PADI's Rescue Diver and Divemaster standards require you to be trained to manage a dive emergency -- they don't hand you a pre-filled document that fits your specific site, boat, or shop contact list. That part is on you, and it's where most shops fall short: not from not knowing what belongs in an EAP, but from nobody ever sitting down and writing it out.
What a PADI-style EAP should cover
- Site access -- physical address or coordinates, fastest route in for an ambulance, gate codes or locked-access notes, and the nearest usable landmark
- Communication -- local emergency number, cell coverage notes for remote sites, a backup method (marine VHF, satellite communicator), and who's assigned to make the call
- Emergency equipment -- where the oxygen and first aid kits are physically located, who last checked them and when, and whether an AED is on site or nearby
- Medical and evacuation -- nearest hospital or clinic, nearest chamber capable of treating decompression illness, and realistic travel times for both, since "nearest" and "fastest" aren't always the same facility
- DAN's 24-hour Diving Emergency Line (+1-919-684-9111) -- call local EMS first; DAN is a resource for diving-specific medical guidance once the ambulance is already moving, not a replacement for it
A word on accuracy
This template reflects the emergency-planning principles taught in PADI's Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses, but it isn't an official PADI document and PADI hasn't reviewed or endorsed it. PADI is a registered trademark of PADI Americas, Inc. It doesn't replace your training, your local operating procedures, or your emergency oxygen and first aid certifications -- it's the paperwork that makes your training executable under pressure, not a substitute for it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this an official PADI document?
No. This template reflects the emergency-planning principles taught in PADI's Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses, but PADI hasn't reviewed or endorsed it and it isn't an official PADI form. PADI doesn't publish one fixed EAP template -- the standard is that you build a plan specific to your own site and team.
Do I need to be a PADI professional to use this?
No. The four-part structure -- site access, communication, equipment, and medical/evacuation -- works for any team, regardless of certifying agency. It's written around PADI's terminology because that's what this page is built for, not because it requires a PADI credential to use.
Dive Backup organizes information entered by the dive team. It does not calculate whether a dive is safe or replace training, certification, professional judgment, dive computers, agency standards, or a live predive briefing.
Filling this in on paper works until conditions change or a diver drops out. Dive Backup turns it into a shared, reviewable plan your whole team can see, so nothing gets decided verbally and forgotten.
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