VIP Inspectors: Identifiable vs Identified

[lowviz]

They are trying to change their role from customer to peer.

Totally disagree. For some divers who own their own tanks/cylinders the ability to understand what they see inside is important to them. I am one of those people.

Let's be real, the math is iffy. I drove 1800 miles total for that particular course. Yes, I'll see savings someday, so what? I wanted to take the course from someone who is proud to teach it the right way, hands-on and full of cleverly placed pitfalls. Pun intended. You live on-site and have all the time in the world to ask endless questions, instructor has all the patience in the world to answer them.

Customer to peer? I have no desire to rise above the solo diver that I am up to the level of a dive professional.

 

[rhwestfall]

Well, actually, it appears this is a SDI/TDI shop failing to recognize or honor its own agency certifications, so essentially questioning or suggesting the agents of SDI/TDI (other trainers, and those carrying certifications from the agency not issued by them) are not, in their personal opinion, properly certified or trained, thus questioning the credentials of the trainer whom the agency has certified, and the standards of the agency issuing the certification.

Seems you need a special endorsement from this shop, above the requirements of their own agency....

If an inspector presents valid credentials and/or information regarding the inspected vessel, they should not have to submit to or demonstrate any additional layer of proof.

And again, we are talking about a "best practice", and not a law. The only VIP required by regulation is the one done at re-qualification.

quite the mess this has become...

While they could set some interesting rules (like, we don't fill blue tanks), I don't see the ability to reject valid recognized certifications or implement layers above their own agency standards...

Watching quite interested as to where this goes...

 

[lowviz]

Well, actually, it appears this is a SDI/TDI shop failing to recognize or honor its own agency certifications, so essentially questioning or suggesting the agents of SDI/TDI (other trainers, and those carrying certifications from the agency not issued by them) are not, in their personal opinion, properly certified or trained, thus questioning the credentials of the trainer whom the agency has certified, and the standards of the agency issuing the certification.

That is an interesting view of the problem.

We've heard from divers, instructors, shops(?), but not from any of the overarching agencies...

 

[guruboy]

Well, actually, it appears this is a SDI/TDI shop failing to recognize or honor its own agency certifications, so essentially questioning or suggesting the agents of SDI/TDI (other trainers, and those carrying certifications from the agency not issued by them) are not, in their personal opinion, properly certified or trained, thus questioning the credentials of the trainer whom the agency has certified, and the standards of the agency issuing the certification.

Seems you need a special endorsement from this shop, above the requirements of their own agency....

If an inspector presents valid credentials and/or information regarding the inspected vessel, they should not have to submit to or demonstrate any additional layer of proof.

And again, we are talking about a "best practice", and not a law. The only VIP required by regulation is the one done at re-qualification.

quite the mess this has become...

While they could set some interesting rules (like, we don't fill blue tanks), I don't see the ability to reject valid recognized certifications or implement layers above their own agency standards...

Watching quite interested as to where this goes...

They are not failing to recognize or honor. they are imposing additional requirements instead of just accepting without any limitations.

If they were failing to recognize or honor, the only option would be to pay for a ship VIP.

hypothetical - if you are <agency> certified and go on a dive trip organized by an <agency> shop, is it wrong if they ask you to do a checkout dive before letting you on the dive trip?

 

[lowviz]

Well, actually, it appears this is a SDI/TDI shop failing to recognize or honor its own agency certifications, so essentially questioning or suggesting the agents of SDI/TDI (other trainers, and those carrying certifications from the agency not issued by them) are not, in their personal opinion, properly certified or trained, thus questioning the credentials of the trainer whom the agency has certified, and the standards of the agency issuing the certification.

This (above) is an even more interesting statement of the problem.

In other words, does being a (pick a number)-Star shop of any agency make "your compressor, your rules" not so much YOURS anymore?

 

[NAM001]

wHEN IT COMES TO putting your identity on the tanks you inspect it is natural that there are 2 different views. The identity will suggest that the person is qualified in good standing and knows what they were doing. From an inspector view I would probably not want my id on the tank. Especially If I were not a trained inspector. If I was a customer I would want the ID to included , if nothing else, give credibility to the inspection validity. The majority of stickers are worthless in reality. most cite standards that do not exist and much more. As I see it the inspector ID says nothing more than who kperformed and who has the inspection records on file. AS AN END USER,,,,,WOULD YOU ACCEPT A HYDRO STAMP THAT DID NOT INCLUDE THE RETESTERS NUMBER??

 

[lowviz]

AS AN END USER,,,,,WOULD YOU ACCEPT A HYDRO STAMP THAT DID NOT INCLUDE THE RETESTERS NUMBER??

Good point.

It does seem reasonable to put an ID on the sticker that ultimately links to the person who performed the VIP.

 

[J-Vo]

Having ~20 tanks that need O2 cleaning makes doing it myself well worth it.

The 5* PADI facility closest to my home baulked at my stickers at first, but when I asked their tech to produce his inspection and O2 cleaning certification he could not.

I trust my inspections more than all by a couple shops in this state. That goes for gear service as well.

 

[Diving Dubai]

It does seem reasonable to put an ID on the sticker that ultimately links to the person who performed the VIP.

Absolutely. My old inspection stamp numbers were retired by the approval authority for a period of 30 years (that might have been increased to 50) so in theory they coul dbe traced to me - good luck with that 15 years later

However another easy solution would be that inspectors can only use stickers that are supplied by the certifying agency (with you unique ID) Or only those stickers would be recognised

Self made stickers does allow for misuse...

 

[rhwestfall]

The generic sticker I use has a place for my name and certification number....

IIRC, the sticker of the LDS being discussed doesn't have a number displayed, nor a name of the actual person who performed it. Honestly, I do not remember a single "shop sticker" having a number or individual's name on it. I didn't know that there was a "shop certification"....

Why do I if they don't?

Interesting...