What is the primary function of a safety stop during a dive?

The primary function of a safety stop during a dive is to reduce the risk of decompression sickness. When divers ascend to the surface after a dive, the pressure decreases, which can cause nitrogen that has been absorbed in body tissues to form bubbles if the ascent is too rapid. A safety stop, typically at around 15 feet (5 meters) for a duration of 3 to 5 minutes, allows divers to decompress slowly and allows excess nitrogen to safely off-gas from their bodies, thus minimizing the chance of developing decompression illness.

While there are aspects of diving that involve adjusting equipment or different gas mixtures, these do not pertain to the core purpose of a safety stop. The function of increasing dive depth or introducing additional gases into the body isn’t relevant to the safety stop practice. The essential goal of the safety stop is maintaining dive safety through careful management of nitrogen levels in the body during ascent.