Being able to provide oxygen to an injured diver can save a live. Some conditions caused by diving that could benefit from breathing pure oxygen are: Decompression Illness, lung over expansion injury, carbon monoxide poisoning, hypoxia, air embolism and lung squeeze.
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When providing oxygen:
- Keep smoking people away and stop fires for example cooking fires this to reduce explosion risk.
- Preferably the place is well ventilated.
- First test the equipment yourself before providing it to an unconscious victim. This prevents that you put a non-functioning mask on a victim that can't speak.
- Keep oxygen equipment oxygen clean, this means free of grease and other contaminations. Also open valves slowly and don't bang the equipment around. This all to reduce explosion risk.
Oxygen can possibly get found at- Dive centers
- Hospitals
- Welding shops
- Elderly facilities
- Fish farms
Off course medical oxygen is preferred but if not available any other kind of oxygen can also get used.
When using a flow meter, you could start setting it to 20 l/min and see if that is enough.
Improvised Oxygen use
If there is no proper regulator that fits the oxygen tank. A person could breath Oxygen directly from a free flowing tank or via a snorkel or garden hose. This should get done carefully. If done wrongly a person could injur him self. First establish an appropriate freeflow before breathing from the source.
