Equipment:

There are several pieces of safety equipment used to help divers carry out decompression stops. A diving shot, a surface marker buoy or a decompression buoy can be used to mark the underwater positions and act as a buoyancy control aid in low visibility or currents. A decompression trapeze is useful for comfortably carrying out long stops. A Jonline may be used to fasten a diver to an anchor line or rope during a Decompression stop

Decompression may be shortened (or accelerated) by breathing an oxygen-rich "deco gas" such as a nitrox with 50% or more oxygen. This decompression gas is sometimes carried in small diving cylinders called "pony cylinders" or in larger side-slung cylinders.