recreational diving, the skipper of the dive boat is likely to be responsible for the safety of the divers on or near the boat, and to ensure that everyone who left the boat to dive is back on the boat before it leaves the site. Unless there is another person specifically appointed as responsible for incident management, the skipper will generally have this responsibility by default. Competence requirements for dive boat skippers will vary depending on the jurisdiction. There is no international standard. There is no specific post for incident management for recreational shore dives. If a diving instructor is involved they will have a duty of care for their learners, and may be the best qualified person to advise emergency services, but it is likely that any emergency services contacted will have to do their best according to their code of practice. Divers Alert Network will be available to advise on best practice if one of their clients is involved, and have been known to do so as a pro bono service even when they have no direct involvement. Buddy or team divers A buddy or team diver is simultaneously the diver and the stand-by diver for the buddy or other members of the team. Since it is increasingly difficult to keep track of a larger number of divers, and the benefits of larger groups are small, teams are usually of three divers. Larger groups are generally split up into three diver teams and pairs. When using the buddy system, members of the group dive together and co-operate with each other, so that they can help or rescue each other in the event of an emergency. This is most effective if the divers are both competent in all the relevant skills and are sufficiently aware of the situation to be able to respond in time, which is a matter of both attitude and competence, both of which may vary with circumstances. In recreational diving, a pair of divers is usually the best combination in buddy diving; with threesomes, one of the divers can easily lose the attention of the other two. The system is likely to be effective in mitigating out-of-air emergencies, non-diving medical emergencies and entrapment in ropes or nets. When used with the buddy check it can help avoid the omission, misuse and failure of diving equipment, though the use of a written checklist is more reliable.