How can divers mitigate the risks associated with oxygen toxicity?

Mitigating the risks associated with oxygen toxicity involves understanding the partial pressure of oxygen and the limits set for safe exposure times. Keeping dives shorter and ensuring that they remain within established safety limits are crucial strategies. When divers plan their dives to adhere to these limits, they reduce the risk of experiencing symptoms of oxygen toxicity, which can occur when the partial pressure of oxygen exceeds safe levels—generally accepted to be above 1.4 ATA for recreational divers.

In essence, maintaining shorter dive times allows divers to avoid prolonged exposure to high oxygen levels, thereby reducing their risk of developing complications like seizures or other adverse effects associated with toxic oxygen levels.

The other choices do not effectively address the need to manage oxygen exposure: ascending faster might increase the risk of decompression sickness, less buoyant equipment does not relate to oxygen toxicity management, and diving deeper typically increases the partial pressure of oxygen—it can contribute to toxicity rather than mitigate it.