Diving Equipment Disinfection – The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on Indonesian tourism. Diving tourism is one of the business activities that suffer the most losses due to this disease outbreak. The decrease in the number of guests experienced by all dive operators.
These forces dive tourism managers to find ways to survive. In recent weeks, the government through the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has socialized the guidelines for Hygiene, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability for Diving Tourism (4KLUWS).
The 4KLUWS guidelines are implemented in order to adjust diving activities in a new era (new normal), and the public is expected to comply with health protocols for the prevention and control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Diving Equipment Disinfection
During the implementation of diving activities in this new era, dive operators and guests are required to implement health protocols. General health protocols include maintaining a distance on land, wearing a face mask before and after diving, and maintaining hand hygiene before and after diving.
Equipment that will be used for diving must be cleaned and disinfected according to the recommendations of the Divers Alert Network (DAN) and the authorized dive agency. There are 3 recommended ingredients, namely:
Sodium Hypochlorite
This material has another name NaOCl, liquid chlorine, or clothes bleach. How to use Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) or clothes bleach as a disinfectant for diving equipment, namely: The equipment is immersed for 1-2 minutes in a 5.25% NaOCl solution with a ratio of 25ml NaOCl/1 liter of water.
After soaking, the tool is rinsed with fresh running water, then air-dried in the open (air dry). Note: Solution must be new and used only once. This solution is safe when diluted with water.
This material can be dangerous when mixed with other chemicals such as ammonia solutions, acids, and alcohol.
Ethanol
The second ingredient is ethanol or alcohol. How to use ethanol to disinfect diving equipment is: the equipment is immersed for 1-2 minutes in 70% ethanol without any mixing. After being immersed in ethanol, the instrument was rinsed with running fresh water.
The tool is then air-dried in the open (air dry). Note: this material has a hazard because it is a flammable material and can damage the rubber parts of diving equipment.
Chloroxylenol
The third chemical that can be used to disinfect diving equipment is Chloroxylenol. This chemical is also known as chloroxylenol or PCMX.
The rule for using this material as a disinfectant is that diving equipment is immersed for 1-2 minutes in a 4.8% chloroxylenol solution with a mixture ratio of 25ml of chloroxylenol to 1 liter of water.
After completion of immersion, the diving equipment is rinsed with running fresh water. Then the diving equipment is air-dried in the open (air dry). Note: Solution must be new and used only once.
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