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Based on the foregoing, there should be, at first glance, no problem with the reported speech of a sentence like:
Science Teacher: If a scuba diver comes up too fast, [s]he will get the bends.
The above, a zero conditional, or type 0, involving statement of a fact, with the “if” meaning “whenever”, is not a conditional at all. Reported speech in this case will not have any tense change for the words that were spoken.
The teacher explained that [if / when / whenever] a scuba diver comes up too fast, [s]he will get the bends.
Nor, by following standard rules, there will not be any problem with the first conditional, the real conditional in the present, nor in any other case where the main clause is in the present tense:
Disenfranchised Person: If I GET the vote, I WILL elect someone who IS in favour of justice.
Our reporter declared that the disenfranchised person WOULD elect someone who WAS in favour of justice if [s]he GOT the vote.
There is no problem here, but, if the first conditional – the real conditional in the present – is in effect the same as the second conditional, a difficulty in interpretation could arise.
