Professional. Kind. Safe.Every session.

1Who this applies to

This code applies to all instructors in any Evolve Education program - EQ Rescue, the 1,000 Goggles Field Study, instructor-pricing accounts and every program we add. One signature covers all of them. It applies wherever you teach or represent Evolve Education: in the water, on the boat or beach, in the classroom, in messages with students, and online, including social media.

Evolve Education is the education program of Evolve Apnea, Kona, Hawai'i ("Evolve" in this code). It sits alongside your agency's standards and the law where you teach. Where one of them asks more of you, follow the stricter rule.

2The spirit of it

People come to freediving to feel calm, capable and free. Many of the students who reach EQ Rescue and our other programs are already frustrated - they have been stuck on equalization, sometimes for a long time. Meet them with patience, warmth and good humor.

Bring the sunshine. Be the instructor students leave smiling, and the colleague other instructors are glad to see on the line. Professional doesn't mean cold - it means people can rely on you.

3Safety first, always

• Follow your agency's standards, course depth limits and supervision ratios. No Evolve Education program overrides them, and in EQ Rescue the safety freediver stays in a mask.
• Teach with a clear head: no alcohol, cannabis, or any drug or medication that dulls your judgment before or during a session.
• A student can pause or stop at any time, with no pressure and no penalty - and nobody is asked to push through ear or sinus pain.
• No equalization training through a cold. Please don't run it - EQ Rescue included - with a student who has a cold, congestion, sinus trouble or an ear infection. If ear pain doesn't settle, or a student has ringing, dizziness, hearing loss or blood from the ear or nose after diving, send them to a doctor before they dive again.
• Call off a session when conditions, equipment or the student's state aren't right.
• Give each student their own nose clip where you can. Wash and disinfect shared goggles - and any shared clip - between students.
• Keep your first aid, rescue training and insurance current, as your agency requires.
• Please report incidents and near misses to your agency as its standards require, and to safety@evolveapnea.com within 48 hours whenever FREEQ® Dry Goggles or the EQ Rescue protocol were in use.

4Respect and dignity for everyone

• Treat every student, peer and member of the public with respect - whatever their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, body type or ability.
• Harassment, bullying, intimidation, threats, insults and demeaning "jokes" have no place here - in person, in messages or online. If someone asks you to stop, stop.
• Leave people's bodies and appearance out of it - no comments, however well meant.
• Never shame a student who struggles. Getting stuck on equalization is common - it's the reason this program exists.

5Clear professional boundaries

• No sexual comments, advances, propositions or relationships with any student you are teaching or assessing, or whose progress or certification you have authority over.
• Don't use your position to gain personal favors, benefits or attention.
• Touch only when teaching or safety needs it: explain, ask, then touch - and accept "no". Let students fit their own goggles and nose clip where they can; if you need to adjust gear on someone's face, say what you're doing first. A rescue or emergency is the only exception.
• Keep messages with students professional and course-related, on channels you'd be comfortable showing to Evolve.

6Students under 18

• Follow your agency's age standards and local law, with written parent or guardian consent.
• Avoid being alone and out of sight with a minor - keep another adult present or in view.
• Message a minor only with a parent or guardian included.
• Never photograph or film a minor without written guardian consent.

7Honesty and integrity

• Document honestly, including what didn't work. Don't invent, inflate or change results.
• Field reports are always anonymous - codes like "Student #3", no names, faces or identifying details.
• Social posts (like #EQRescue) are different: photograph, film or post a student only with their written consent (a parent's or guardian's for under-18s), and never post a student's struggle in a way that could identify or embarrass them.
• Describe EQ Rescue and FREEQ® Dry Goggles accurately: EQ Rescue is a teaching aid used alongside agency standards, not a certification. You can say FREEQ goggles self-equalize; never claim they eliminate squeeze - no gear removes every risk, and fit still matters.
• Be clear and fair with students about prices, fees and cancellations.
• Don't present yourself as Evolve staff or speak for Evolve unless we have asked you to.

8Respect for peers, agencies and the mask

• Speak well of other instructors, agencies and methods. Disagree privately and respectfully.
• The mask is not the enemy - it's a demanding tool for some students, and EQ Rescue is the bridge back to it. Never put down the mask or another instructor's teaching.
• Online, post the way you teach: professional, generous and positive.

9Care for the ocean

Leave dive sites as you found them. Don't touch or chase marine life, pack out what you bring, and show students how.

12What happens next

• We aim to acknowledge every report within 24 hours, though sometimes it may take up to 2 business days.
• We keep reports as confidential as we can, sharing them only with the people who need to know in order to act.
• We may pause someone's participation while we look into a serious concern. A pause is not a finding of fault.
• Depending on what we find: a conversation and guidance, a written warning, suspension, removal from Evolve Education programs and instructor pricing, and - where appropriate - referral to the instructor's agency or the authorities.
• You can ask for a decision to be reviewed by emailing safety@evolveapnea.com within 14 days. Final decisions about participation in Evolve Education programs are Evolve's.