The Importance of Your Pre-Dive Safety Check
Learn why the pre-dive safety check is one of the most critical steps before entering the water, and how it can prevent common dive accidents and gear malfunctions.
SAFETY WHILE DIVING
The Importance of Your Pre-Dive Safety Check
Before every dive, there’s one habit that separates safe divers from those who risk serious accidents: the pre-dive safety check. Often remembered by the acronym BWRAF (used by PADI: BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final check), this step is not just a formality — it can prevent equipment malfunctions, buddy separation, and even drowning.
A proper pre-dive safety check helps you verify that your gear is functioning properly and your buddy’s setup is in order. That includes inflating/deflating your BCD, confirming weight releases are clear and accessible, checking your tank valve is open and your regulator is delivering air smoothly, and ensuring nothing is entangled. This check becomes especially vital when diving in new environments, using rental gear, or diving after a long surface interval.
Even experienced divers can overlook simple details — like forgetting to turn on the air or secure a weight belt. In fact, many diving incidents reported to organizations like Divers Alert Network (DAN) are preventable and often stem from skipped checks or assumptions that everything is fine.
The safety check is also a moment to communicate and sync with your buddy. It ensures that both divers are aware of how each other’s gear works, where alternate air sources are located, and what to do in an emergency. This reinforces teamwork and builds confidence underwater — especially crucial in stressful conditions or currents.
Different dive certification agencies might teach slight variations of the pre-dive check, but they all emphasize the same core principles. Whether you follow PADI’s BWRAF, SSI’s ABCDE, or your own memorized system, the key is to make it a non-negotiable routine.
If you’re booking a dive trip or liveaboard, operators like Divebooker.com often encourage divers to follow standardized pre-dive checks, and many divemasters will walk through it with you as a team. Embracing the practice before every dive sets a strong example for others and keeps you and your buddy safer.
Ultimately, the pre-dive safety check is a simple step that takes less than five minutes — but could save your life. So don’t skip it, rush it, or do it half-heartedly. It’s one of the most important parts of every dive.
Happy and safe diving,
The ScubaBlast Team
Divers Alert Network. (2023). 2022 Annual Diving Report. https://dan.org/research-insights/injury-report/
PADI. (n.d.). The Buddy Check: BWRAF Explained. https://www.padi.com/articles/the-buddy-check-bwraf-explained
SSI. (n.d.). Basic Open Water Skills. https://www.divessi.com/en/blog/basic-skills-every-open-water-diver-should-know-11082