Public Safety Diving Explained | ERDI CEO Brian Carney

Joe Cocozza sits down with Brian Carney, CEO at International Training, to talk about ERDI - Emergency Response Diving International - and the demanding world of public safety diving. This is not recreational Rescue Diver training. Public safety diving is a specialized, team-based discipline built for search, rescue, and recovery in some of the worst conditions imaginable: zero visibility, contaminated water, submerged vehicles, flood zones, electrical hazards, entanglement hazards, current, debris, and body recovery operations. ERDI was created to bring standardized team training to public safety dive teams so that departments from different jurisdictions can work together seamlessly on the same scene. Brian explains how ERDI developed, why team roles like diver, tender, backup diver, supervisor, and scene assessor all matter, and how proper standards help protect both divers and municipalities. The discussion also covers ERDI 1, ERDI 2, specialty ops, full-face masks, encapsulated diving, swiftwater, overhead environments, and real-world liability issues that have shaped public safety dive training. If you’re a diver, instructor, public safety professional, firefighter, police diver, rescue swimmer, or dive training nerd, this is a fascinating look at one of the most serious and least understood corners of the diving world. Topics covered What ERDI is Why public safety diving is not just Rescue Diver Team-based dive operations Hazard assessment and contaminated water Tenders, backup divers, and scene management ERDI training progression Why standards matter for municipalities and liability Police, fire, and multi-agency interoperability Hashtags #PublicSafetyDiving #ERDI #DiveRescue #SearchAndRecovery #ScubaDiving #DiveTraining #BrianCarney #PodDiverTV #EmergencyResponseDiving #BlackwaterDiving #RescueDiver #TechnicalDiving Chapter markers 00:00 What public safety diving really is 03:30 Why this is not just Rescue Diver 07:15 Team roles: tenders, backup divers, and scene assessment 11:45 ERDI training path and specialty operations 16:10 Why standards matter for departments and liability