• Do you want to teach the safest and most effective diving courses in the industry today?
• Do you want to become a dynamic educator and confident public speaker?
• Want to be part of an elite team teaching with the highest standards in the industry today?

If yes, then it is time to become a Lifeguard Systems Instructor.

Lifeguard Systems and ACUC (American Canadian Underwater Certifications) combine to form a Public Safety and Recreational Diving certification with the highest standards in the industry. Lifeguard Systems and ACUC have formed a new Instructor Certification: Lifeguard Systems/ACUC.

Lifeguard Systems is the national leader in water rescue and recovery training and has certified hundreds of recreational NAUI and ACUC scuba instructors over 35 years. ACUC is Canada’s oldest and largest recreational scuba training agency, and is a growing force in both the U.S. and Europe.

The blending of Lifeguard Systems’ training techniques and the ACUC training agency establishes the highest standards in the dive industry and the ability to develop the highest caliber instructors for both public safety and recreational scuba training.

For many years, students and colleagues have urged Lifeguard Systems to become a certifying agency because Lifeguard Systems training was so unique and the standards so high. The Lifeguard Systems/ACUC agreement achieves this goal.

1. Average instructor training/crossover class size is 6 candidates.
2. Candidates give at least 15 – 20 classroom teaching presentations, and many confined water and openwater presentations.  It is a constant hands-on course. You will not be sitting back listening to staff lectures. People do not learn by watching. We learn by doing. And you will be doing a great deal of doing. This is instructor training like none other.
3. You will learn how to teach an entry level diving program for divers who will then take public safety diver technician level training. Your students, upon graduating from this course, will be full-face mask, drysuit, and pony bottle certified. They will be fully competent and confident with blacked-out masks and will be capable of searching with a tether-line and will keep that line taut. The students will receive Novice Public Safety Diver certification.
4. The course  you will teach will also certify novice tenders, and the divers can receive this certification as well.
5. You will be able to teach a variety of additional courses as well.

Level 1-PSD Lifeguard Systems Instructor

The LGS/ACUC Instructor Training Course (ITC): 10 days of intense training

The Path to Public Safety Instruction

When Fire, Police, and EMS personnel learn to dive with the goal of becoming public safety divers, a recreational entry-level scuba course does not fully achieve this goal. These students need an entry-level course designed to prepare them for blackwater, tender-directed-tethered diving, severe entanglement potential, all-year and all-weather diving, debris covered bottoms, and contaminated water. The Level 1-PSD ITC teaches and certifies you to teach an entry-level course, which truly readies your students for the next level of public safety.

Level 1-PSD is the first level in the Public Safety Instructor’s career development. Level 1 is an ITC which not only prepares candidates to teach recreational scuba, but to teach scuba so that their students will be ready for public safety diver education, including such programs as rapid deployment search & rescue/recovery, blackwater, u/w vehicle extrication, large area search, and ice rescue. After you achieve Level 1-PSD Instructor, you can progress through Levels 2-4 to be able to teach and certify divers in these public safety programs.

NAUI Instructor Rating

At the completion of the ITC, the candidate will also be eligible for an optional NAUI Instructor Rating. The ability to provide multiple agency certifications may make the candidate more marketable to open water students. (See fees section).

Level 1-PSD Lifeguard Systems Instructor Crossover

Level 1-PSD Crossover Course is designed for active instructors of any recognized certifying agency. Successful completion of this 8-9 day course would reward the instructor with Level 1-PSD Lifeguard Systems/ACUC Instructor status. The crossover course is the first 8-9 days of the instructor training course.

Up until now, you have been giving potential public safety divers recreational training and recreational certification. With the Level 1-PSD Lifeguard Systems Instructor status, you can give your students public safety diver entry-level training and certification. You will also be providing your students with the strongest foundation for advanced public safety courses. Before you take the crossover you need to perform a take-home, written pre-assessment exam that we will send you. If you do not pass with a score of 85% then we strongly recommend that you take the ten-day instructor course.

Fees and Materials

• Instructor Training Course:  10 days approximately 135 hrs
• Instructor Crossover Course: 8-9 days, approximately 115 hrs

Other Costs/Fees Schedule

Please note: students are not guaranteed to pass until they successfully complete all portions of the course: written tests, academic and water presentations, and water skills.

Scuba Instructor Readiness Series (SIRS) –meets the NFPA and ProQual dive teams standards regarding physics, physiology, and other academic standards, and therefore are an excellent training tool for all team members.

• SIRS is a 5 volume-10 hour Video Series and 700 page Workbook/Guide
• Volume 1-Teaching Concepts Vol. 2–Physics Vol. 3–Physiology Vol. 4–Water Training
• Volume 5-Decompression Sickness, Tables, High Altitude Diving and Agency Manuals

ITC passing rates improved from 20% to 90% for candidates utilizing SIRS. Rather than lowering standards, Lifeguard Systems created this ITC preparation tool. SIRS is also an excellent teaching tool for other scuba courses (e.g. rescue, divemaster, asst. instructor) you will be able teach after you are an instructor.