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IntermediateBefore each dive and after-dive review

Dive Planning: Team Briefing and Gas-Plan Review

Prepare a shared dive plan with site context, agreed limits, gas-plan review, buddy briefing and pre-entry checks; retain the plan and post-dive notes.

certified recreational open-water buddy teamsstudents reviewing a plan with their instructor

Workflow

  1. Match the proposed dive to the team and site

    Discuss the objective, each diver’s training, recent experience, comfort and familiarity with the equipment. Use the site research brief to review current access and conditions with the operator or instructor. Choose an activity within the team’s capabilities and identify questions that need resolving before committing. This workflow organizes planning for recreational open-water dives; overhead environments, planned decompression and other specialist activities require their own training and planning procedures.

  2. Agree on the route, exposure limits and exit

    Using the planning methods taught in your certification and the instructions for your actual equipment, agree on the route, entry and exit, maximum depth and time boundaries. Account for previous dives and the actual gas and computer settings with the responsible team. Write down the source and units of each agreed limit rather than copying a website example. Identify what will cause the team to change or end the dive, including a diver choosing to stop.

  3. Establish the gas plan and check its arithmetic

    Have the responsible trained team establish gas requirements for the actual divers, cylinders, route and contingencies, including the return, ascent and reserve. Record each diver’s agreed turn or termination pressure and what it means. Do not wait for a generic fraction of the tank to remain, or assume that equal cylinder pressures mean equal available gas. The linked worksheet can optionally reproduce arithmetic already selected in a reviewed plan: enter matching rated surface-gas capacity and pressure, reviewed duration and average ATA, combined demand rate, external allowance and an independent total. Resolve discrepancies with the plan owner; the worksheet does not calculate a recommended turn pressure or approve the dive.

    Reviewed Dive Gas Plan Reconciliation

  4. Brief communication, contingencies and surface support

    Agree on roles and signals, including how the team will communicate gas, time, problems and ending the dive. Review the responses taught in your training for separation, equipment problems and gas emergencies, together with the site-specific emergency action plan. Confirm the surface contact and expected return arrangements. Ask each participant to explain the plan back in their own words so that different terminology or assumptions can be resolved before entry.

  5. Recheck the plan and equipment before entry

    Review current conditions against the assumptions recorded in the plan. Complete the equipment and buddy checks taught by your provider, using the actual setup, gas information and computer configuration. Confirm that everyone understands the agreed boundaries and is comfortable proceeding. Resolve a mismatch or stop to revise the plan before entry. During the dive, monitor the agreed parameters and communicate with the team; follow the trained procedures for changing conditions or ending the dive.

  6. Retain the plan and review the completed dive

    Keep the agreed plan with its date, version and source records. Download this guide’s checklist as a preparation record; it does not contain a personalized dive profile or automatically include calculator results. Save an optional worksheet report separately with the original reviewed plan. After the dive, compare the actual record with the plan, note unexplained differences and agree on follow-up with the responsible person. Use the dive-log workflow for the completed record rather than treating a successful dive as approval to repeat the same plan in different conditions.

Tools Used

Checklist

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Agree and verify

Reference Materials

Shared plan briefing recordTable

Copy these headings into the actual team plan. Enter agreed information and its responsible source; blank or disputed items remain open.

TopicWhat the team records
ScopeDate, site, objective and plan version
Route and exposureEntry, exit, agreed depth/time boundaries and source
GasEach diver’s pressure boundaries, units, meaning and responsible calculation
CommunicationRoles, signals and how concerns or termination are communicated
ContingenciesTrained procedures reviewed and site-specific support arrangements
ReviewUnresolved item, responsible person and change to the plan
Optional gas worksheet handoverTable

Copy these headings into the actual team plan. Enter agreed information and its responsible source; blank or disputed items remain open.

Input groupRecord required
CylinderMatching rated surface-gas capacity and rated gauge pressure, not water capacity
BoundaryStarting and reviewed boundary pressures in the same system
SegmentReviewed minutes, average absolute pressure and combined surface-volume rate
AllowanceSeparately prepared non-segment gas allowance and its source
ComparisonIndependent total demand in the same surface-volume unit
OutputArithmetic differences to investigate; no automatic safety or turn-pressure verdict
Sources and scopeStandard

Use current training, operator procedures and the instructions for the actual equipment to make the plan. This page organizes the discussion and record; it does not prescribe depth, time, gas reserves or emergency actions. A checked preparation list or matching arithmetic does not establish that a dive is suitable.

  • Use explicit boundaries

    Write each agreed pressure with its units and meaning. A fraction alone can conceal different assumptions about usable gas, reserves and cylinder capacity.

  • Keep versions together

    If the site, equipment or team changes, revisit the affected assumptions and retain the revised plan with its supporting records.

Safety Notes

  • Plan within the team’s training and the actual conditions. Specialist dives need specialist procedures; the checklist and arithmetic worksheet do not replace them.

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