A new industry initiative is aiming to place diver preparedness at the centre of recreational scuba diving.
Rescue Diver Ready has officially launched with a mission to help divers become safer, more confident, and better prepared through a combination of education, training, technology, assessment tools, and community engagement. The initiative has been developed around a simple but ambitious goal: to make every diver a “Rescue Ready Diver” through continued engagement with rescue skills and emergency preparedness.
The organisation launches with support from three well-known names in the diving industry: PADI, Divers Alert Network (DAN), and Garmin. Together, they form what Rescue Diver Ready describes as a preparedness ecosystem designed to encourage divers to view preparedness as an ongoing commitment rather than a one-time certification milestone.
According to Rescue Diver Ready founder and CEO Natalee van Staden, preparedness is often overlooked despite the significant investments divers make in training, travel, and equipment.
“Preparedness is the missing link between training, safety, and technology,” she said during the launch announcement. Rescue Diver Ready was created to help make preparedness a defining part of every diver’s journey.
The initiative is built around four core pillars.
PADI contributes diver education and certification pathways, including its widely recognised Rescue Diver programme. DAN brings its extensive experience in dive safety research, emergency assistance, medical expertise, and first aid education. Garmin contributes dive technology designed to improve awareness, communication, navigation, and preparedness. Rescue Diver Ready itself acts as the connecting element, bringing these components together through community engagement and preparedness-focused programmes.
The launch highlights a challenge familiar to many instructors and dive professionals. While millions of divers hold certifications worldwide, emergency response skills can fade over time if they are not regularly practised. Rescue Diver Ready aims to address this gap through ongoing education, refresher opportunities, preparedness assessments, and community-based initiatives.
Donovan van Staden, Co-Founder and Director of Training for Rescue Diver Ready, believes rescue training can fundamentally change how divers approach the underwater environment.
“The PADI Rescue Diver Course is one of the most transformational programs available to recreational divers,” he said. “It changes how divers think, how they observe, and how they respond.”
As part of the launch, Rescue Diver Ready has identified five key focus areas:
- Preparedness Assessments
- Rescue Diver Education
- Emergency First Response Training
- Emergency Oxygen Provider Education
- Community-Based Preparedness Programs
A cornerstone of the initiative will be the Rescue Ready Assessment, a new benchmarking tool designed to help divers evaluate their confidence levels, emergency readiness, rescue knowledge, and equipment preparedness. The assessment is intended to provide divers with a clearer understanding of where they stand and what areas may require additional attention or training.
The organisation also plans to host its first major public event, Rescue Ready Weekend, on September 19-20, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The event will bring together divers, instructors, safety professionals, and industry partners for two days focused on rescue training, emergency response education, preparedness workshops, and community engagement.
The launch comes at a time when the industry is increasingly emphasising continuing education and safety-focused training. Recent initiatives from organisations such as PADI and DAN have similarly encouraged divers to build upon their foundational certifications and maintain critical emergency response skills throughout their diving careers.
Whether Rescue Diver Ready develops into a major movement within recreational diving remains to be seen, but its central message is one that resonates across all levels of the industry: being prepared for the unexpected may be just as important as the dive itself.
For many divers, the question is no longer whether they can complete a dive safely, but whether they are prepared to help when something goes wrong.
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