What do you do if divers are delayed greater than 1 minute and shallower than 50 fsw?

• A. Ignore the delay.
• B. Round the delay time up to the next whole minute and add the delay time to the diver's first decompression stop.
• C. Recompute schedule.
• D. Abort the dive.

Answer: (B)

When a dive experiences a delay on the ascent or during decompression planning, small delays at shallow depths are handled by treating the delay as additional time at the first decompression stop. The idea is to incorporate that extra time where it’s easiest to manage safely—the initial stop at a shallow depth—without needing to redo the entire decompression schedule. Round the delay up to the next whole minute to avoid underestimating it, and add that amount to the duration of the first decompression stop at the shallow depth.

For example, if the first stop is at 20 fsw for 2 minutes and you have a delay of 1.3 minutes, round the delay to 2 minutes and extend the first stop to 4 minutes. The remaining stops stay as planned. This approach preserves the overall decompression model while accounting for the actual time spent away from the planned schedule. Ignoring the delay, recomputing everything, or aborting the dive isn’t appropriate for modest delays at shallow depths.