Amended Standards for all Rebreather Training

IART rebreather flowchart 2016 EFollowing a meeting at HQ it has been decided to make the new rebreather training standards effective immediately and this newsletter is dedicated to this theme. The old standards of Level I user (air diluent, no deco) followed by a dive experience phase before continuing to the Level II Extended Range (with Option (A) Air diluent deco to 40m or option (B) Normoxic Trimix diluent deco to 60m is replaced by a more flexible user course that better reflects the widely differing qualifications of divers starting with rebreathers. The new standards can be summarized as follows: Level I user (air diluent, no deco) unchanged but followed by the option for some divers to complete a 40m deco module immediately following the User course dives using either air or normoxic Trimix depending on the personal qualifications. For Example:A diver completing the User Course holding the IART OC Decompression Diver qualification (or equivalent) may complete the rebreather deco module with 2 further dives immediately after successful completion of the user course. Air diluent must be used. A diver completing the User Course holding the IART OC Extended Range Diver qualification or Advanced Trimix Diver (or equivalent) may complete the rebreather deco module with 2 further dives immediately after successful completion of the user course. Air diluent or Normoxic Trimix can be used. All divers that have no decompression qualifications MUST complete 25 hours of diving on the rebreather prior to attending the full 4 dive Deco Module. Air diluent must be used. Following the deco module ALL divers are required to log 50 hours on the rebreather before progressing on to the Level II Extended Range which is now a 4 dive Normoxic Trimix course (in line with the standards used for OC). The only exception is still for divers holding OC Advanced Trimix qualifications who can (if desired) after 80 logged dives proceed directly to the Level III Advanced Trimix rebreather course. New flowcharts are online and can be downloaded from the IART website. All training materials and released standards will be updated.