Dive Standardization Program
What is a Standardization Program?
A Standardization Program is a structured instructional and evaluation program designed to ensure consistent, safe, and efficient practices across all levels of diving operations. It improves readiness and reduces mishaps by identifying and standardizing core knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's), and practices, procedures, and techniques (PPT's), necessary for the performance of safe diving operations across all dive related activities. The program then assesses and evaluates divers/instructors/operators at all levels to ensure standards are maintained, and provides training for corrections and improvement.
At higher levels of diving and diving operations, the Standardization Program shifts to maintaining core principles, and guiding safe practices. While core KSA's and PPT's are reinforced, it must be understood that there are few strict applications that are definitively "correct", and therefore, must be followed. This inherent understanding within the program allows for variations and acceptance of differences in practical applications. For example: If a particular technique doesn't violate core principles, and is safe and effective when applied, it is considered acceptable in practice. This shift in the program allows for the assessment of new ideas, development of new practices in diving operations, or even new procedures when responding to emergencies. The underlying emphasis is that, while there are a few best ways to accomplish a task, there is often more than one good way to accomplish the same thing, and that standards should not become substitutes for sound judgment in situationally dependent events.
What falls under the program?
Assessments and Evaluations of all types of diving, dive operations, and support activities, fall under the Standardization Program, this includes, but is not limited to: Recreational diving, technical diving, rebreather diving, occupational diving, all dive guiding practices, all dive instruction, equipment maintenance programs, all leadership diving positions, and even the organizational dive programs and operations too.
The PDC Dive Standardization Program is a service that evaluates individual professionals (from Recreational to Occupational), teams, and programs, all the way up to entire organizations, to provide industry standardized quality assurance functions, compliance with accepted standards across all functional areas, and annual certifications.
Professional Assessments
Ensuring Dive Professionals maintain the Standards
All Dive Professionals, from Divemasters to Instructors, from Public Safety to Occupational Divers, should be assessed annually to assure their KSA's and PPT's remain in-line with established standards for their level.
Our Professional Assessment service starts with consultations to establish standards and expectations for the process, along with planning and scheduling. Once the assessment begins, a records review is conducted to evaluate training history, experience, and progression. A written exam is given, followed by an oral interview, to assess depth of knowledge and understanding. This will be followed by a blind practical assessment. Data gathered from these are used to identify KSA gaps, skill degradation, and/or behavioral deviations from organizational, industry, and/or agency standards, or PPT's.
Once the assessment is completed, any retraining necessary will be administered with the intent to reinforce current standards, and improve KSA and PPT development through instruction and mentorship.
Professionals completing their assessment with a satisfactory rating will be certified as fit for continued diving operations in their professional capacity.
Professional Assessments can be given on an individual or group basis, or included within the scope of Organizational Evaluations.
Annual Proficiency Assessment and Readiness Test (APART)
For Dive Professionals who must maintain a Higher standard
For Dive Professionals who belong to organizations that demand fitness for duty (such as PDC, or Public Safety Divers, divers who work for government organizations, or other organizations with established fitness requirements), or individuals who desire to maintain a higher standard, our Annual Proficiency Assessment and Readiness Testing program will assure they are fit for duty, on track with their progression requirements, and meet the standards.
APART's are an integrated part of a formal Dive Training Program (DTP), which falls under the Dive Standardization Program (DSP), and ensures quality and standards are maintained, behavioral deviation is prevented, and an individual's professional and developmental progression is continued.
The APART is a multi-part exam, given within a 60-day window leading up to the diver's birth month, and consisting of a medical check-up, records review, written standards exam, oral evaluation, practical skills evaluation, swim test, and a Physical Fitness Assessment.
Professionals completing their APART with a satisfactory rating will be certified as fit for continued diving operations in their professional capacity.
APART's can be given on an individual or group basis, or included within the scope of Organizational Evaluations.
Organizational Evaluations
Providing Quality Assurance across our Industry
Pinnacle Diving Company has 20 years of industrial compliance and programmatic evaluation experience, and can offer your organization or agency evaluation and compliance services that meet the needs of industry quality assurance requirements.
We are capable of evaluating organizations, operators, and individual dive programs and/or operations, to assure compliance with standards, and either make corrective recommendations to bring them up to standards, or certify them fit for continued diving operations in a professional capacity.
We can even help you develop and start up your very own standardization programs for training and operations, and compliance requirements too.
Pinnacle Diving Company has 20 years of experience in Program Standardization, Industrial Compliance, Development and Evaluations, Operations and Performance Assessments, and more, and we are capable of performing annual assessments to ensure professional-level divers, teams, programs, and/or organizations, meet and maintain standards.