Freediving: Human Physiology at the Edge

By: Matias Nochetto, MD Freediving places unique demands on the human body. While remarkable physiological adaptations make breath-hold diving possible, they also have limits. This presentation explores how the body responds to depth, pressure, and prolonged breath-holding, explaining the mechanisms behind common injuries and accidents, including barotrauma, hypoxic blackout, and decompression illness. Dive leaders will gain a practical understanding of the physiology that underpins safer and more informed diving.

Before the Alarm Sounds: A New Tool for Safer Liveaboards

By: JoAnn Perry, MSE Recent liveaboard incidents have highlighted the importance of proactively identifying and managing operational risks before they become emergencies. This session introduces a practical Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis (HIRA) checklist developed to help dive professionals and liveaboard operators recognize hazards, assess risk, and implement effective mitigation strategies to enhance safety for both crew and guests.

Lessons from the Thai Cave Rescue

By: Richard “Harry” Harris, BMBS, SC, OAM The story is well known, but cave diver and anesthesiologist Richard Harris will present an inside perspective on his role in the successful rescue of the 12 boys and their coach from a remote cave in Northern Thailand in 2018. Using a high-risk and unprecedented general anaesthetic technique, Harry worked closely with other cave divers and rescuers to develop the “least worst” strategy.

Beyond the Dive Profile: The Continuum of Decompression Stress

By: Matias Nochetto, MD Decompression stress is often viewed as a function of depth and bottom time, but the body’s response to diving begins before entering the water and continues long after surfacing. This presentation explores how pre-dive preparation, in-water decisions, and post-dive behaviors each influence decompression stress, integrating current physiology with practical recommendations that divers can apply throughout the entire dive experience.

2027 DAN Instructor, Instructor Trainer, and Examiner Update

By: JoAnn Perry, MSE Divers Alert Network Instructors, Instructor Trainers, and Examiners are invited to attend the 2027 Update. This session will cover improvements and changes from the past year and provide an outlook on changes coming in the year ahead.

DAN Programs for Dive Pros and Businesses

By: Angela Williams and Rochelle “Shelli” Wright Join us for an overview of DAN’s membership and insurance programs, and learn about all the great benefits available to you, your business, and your customers. We’ll cover DAN membership benefits, dive accident coverage, trip and travel protection, and liability insurance, and there will be time to get answers to all your questions. Learn how dive pros and dive operators can use DAN’s programs to better serve your customers, mitigate risk, and grow your business.

Freediving: Human Physiology at the Edge

By: Matias Nochetto, MD Freediving places unique demands on the human body. While remarkable physiological adaptations make breath-hold diving possible, they also have limits. This presentation explores how the body responds to depth, pressure, and prolonged breath-holding, explaining the mechanisms behind common injuries and accidents, including barotrauma, hypoxic blackout, and decompression illness. Dive leaders will gain a practical understanding of the physiology that underpins safer and more informed diving.

Revised “Oxygen Clock” Limits for Technical Diving

By: Simon Mitchell, MB ChB, PhD In 2025 a seminar involving international experts in technical diving was convened to review the evidence underpinning the current NOAA oxygen exposure limits (“the CNS clock”) that are universally taught to technical divers, and to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to revise these limits. This presentation will describe that process, which led to a modified recommendation.

Beyond the Dive Profile: The Continuum of Decompression Stress

By: Matias Nochetto, MD Decompression stress is often viewed as a function of depth and bottom time, but the body’s response to diving begins before entering the water and continues long after surfacing. This presentation explores how pre-dive preparation, in-water decisions, and post-dive behaviors each influence decompression stress, integrating current physiology with practical recommendations that divers can apply throughout the entire dive experience.

Risk Management in Deep Diving Part 1

By: Richard “Harry” Harris, BMBS, SC, OAM Richard Harris started diving in the late 1970s and always had a fascination with exploration. He developed a niche interest in deep cave diving partly because many of the deep sites were unexplored, and partly because of an interest in the physical and physiological barriers to diving safely beyond recreational depths. This talk discusses the risks and mitigation strategies based around his signature project in the Pearse Resurgence, New Zealand.

Lessons from the Thai Cave Rescue

By: Richard “Harry” Harris, BMBS, SC, OAM The story is well known, but cave diver and anesthesiologist Richard Harris will present an inside perspective on his role in the successful rescue of the 12 boys and their coach from a remote cave in Northern Thailand in 2018. Using a high-risk and unprecedented general anaesthetic technique, “Harry” worked closely with other cave divers and rescuers to develop the “least worst” strategy.

Revised “Oxygen Clock” Limits for Technical Diving

By: Simon Mitchell, MB ChB, PhD In 2025 a seminar involving international experts in technical diving was convened to review the evidence underpinning the current NOAA oxygen exposure limits (“the CNS clock”) that are universally taught to technical divers, and to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to revise these limits. This presentation will describe that process, which led to a modified recommendation.

Understanding Today’s Divers

By: Jim Chimiak, MD Recreational divers enter the water with a range of backgrounds, abilities, and medical profiles. But the issues that lead to most injuries and near misses are remarkably consistent and largely preventable. Drawing on real world insights from DAN incident reports, hotline calls, info requests, and field experience, this session will provide useful insights for divers and dive professionals. The talk highlights the factors most strongly associated with avoidable accidents and translates them into practical strategies divers can apply.

Safety By Design: Operational Case Studies

By: Shannon Hunt Effective risk management is built through intentional planning and continuous improvement. This presentation uses real operational case studies to demonstrate how proactive hazard identification, incident analysis, and corrective actions work together to strengthen dive operations.

2027 DAN Instructor, Instructor Trainer, and Examiner Update

By: JoAnn Perry, MSE Divers Alert Network Instructors, Instructor Trainers, and Examiners are invited to attend the 2027 Update. This session will cover improvements and changes from the past year and provide an outlook on changes coming in the year ahead.

Annual Examiners’ Meeting

By: JoAnn Perry, MSE DAN Examiners are invited to attend this annual meeting. We look forward to introducing you to our training team and discussing upcoming changes and ideas for DAN training. Because of your experience, we will lean on you for your ideas and knowledge.

Before the Alarm Sounds: A New Tool for Safer Liveaboards

By: JoAnn Perry, MSE Recent liveaboard incidents have highlighted the importance of proactively identifying and managing operational risks before they become emergencies. This session introduces a practical Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis (HIRA) checklist developed to help dive professionals and liveaboard operators recognize hazards, assess risk, and implement effective mitigation strategies to enhance safety for both crew and guests.

Risk Management in Deep Diving Part 2: The Hydrogen Story

By: Richard “Harry” Harris, BMBS, SC, OAM With a decade of experience diving past 150m, Harry was reaching the limits of what he believed could be safely achieved using current technology. However the sites he was exploring were now heading down past 250m. This talk will describe the path to being the first diver to utilize hydrogen as a breathing gas in a rebreather and the small series of dives performed in New Zealand and South Africa. He will give a frank description of his final hydrogen dive that resulted in spinal decompression sickness and share his thoughts on the future of technical ultra-deep diving.

Safety By Design: Operational Case Studies

By: Shannon Hunt Effective risk management is built through intentional planning and continuous improvement. This presentation uses real operational case studies to demonstrate how proactive hazard identification, incident analysis, and corrective actions work together to strengthen dive operations.

Understanding Today’s Divers

By: Jim Chimiak, MD Recreational divers enter the water with a range of backgrounds, abilities, and medical profiles. But the issues that lead to most injuries and near misses are remarkably consistent and largely preventable. Drawing on real world insights from DAN incident reports, hotline calls, info requests, and field experience, this session will provide useful insights for divers and dive professionals. The talk highlights the factors most strongly associated with avoidable accidents and translates them into practical strategies divers can apply.

DAN Programs for Dive Pros and Businesses

By: Angela Williams and Rochelle “Shelli” Wright Join us for an overview of DAN’s membership and insurance programs, and learn about all the great benefits available to you, your business, and your customers. We’ll cover DAN membership benefits, dive accident coverage, trip and travel protection, and liability insurance, and there will be time to get answers to all your questions. Learn how dive pros and dive operators can use DAN’s programs to better serve your customers, mitigate risk, and grow your business.