Calgarian suing diver training organization

[underH2Oman]

Just saw this news article. I think CO should be covered in OW programs if it is not already. It is included in all my OW classes and has been for decades.


Calgarian suing diver training organization after wife's scuba death - Calgary - CBC News

 

[tracydr]

Good for him! Maybe it will encourage the dive training organizations to include CO testing. Tasting and smelling the gas is pretty old-fashioned and inadequate.
We don't have a tester ourselves but I plan to get one before our next dive trip out of country.

---------- Post added December 17th, 2013 at 07:33 AM ----------

I have a question. Why wouldn't the battery operated CO detectors for campers, house and vehicles not work? They are $12 at Home Depot and detect levels at least as low as 5 ppm. Are they not accurate enough?

 

[Karibelle]

As a training organization, PADI has nothing to do with this tragic situation.

And if we can't convince enriched air divers that checking one's own tank is the right course, this seems like a non-starter. Knowing that you should always know what is in your tank is not a training issue, it's a personal one.

Just my opinion.

 

[Scared Silly]

Good for him! Maybe it will encourage the dive training organizations to include CO testing. Tasting and smelling the gas is pretty old-fashioned and inadequate.

I have a question. Why wouldn't the battery operated CO detectors for campers, house and vehicles not work? They are $12 at Home Depot and detect levels at least as low as 5 ppm. Are they not accurate enough?

Not sure which one you are referring but most home detectors are not set up for alarming at very low PPM most begin detecting at 5ppm. Accuracy/precision could also be an issue. 5ppm is bad for scuba gas. 25 ppm is acceptable in a parking garage.

As a training organization, PADI has nothing to do with this tragic situation.

And if we can't convince enriched air divers that checking one's own tank is the right course, this seems like a non-starter. Knowing that you should always know what is in your tank is not a training issue, it's a personal one.

Who said anything about enriched air? While I believe there is no training agency culpability in this case training agencies should be including up to date techniques for assuring what is in a cylinder. As such, while the old standard of smell/taste may be dated it should be included right along side a discussion of using CO detectors. For that there are a few commercial scuba specific detectors out there that can be discussed and be included in training materials.

 

[Karibelle]

Who said anything about enriched air? While I believe there is no training agency culpability in this case training agencies should be including up to date techniques for assuring what is in a cylinder. As such, while the old standard of smell/taste may be dated it should be included right along side a discussion of using CO2 detectors. For that there are a few commercial scuba specific detectors out there that can be discussed and be included in training materials.

I did. My point being that even in the case where a training course does involve extensive information about why you should and how to verify the contents of your tank, many people choose to disregard that information once they're certified.

kari

 

[Doppler]

As a training organization, PADI has nothing to do with this tragic situation.

And if we can't convince enriched air divers that checking one's own tank is the right course, this seems like a non-starter. Knowing that you should always know what is in your tank is not a training issue, it's a personal one.

Just my opinion.

I believe your thinking is at fault and like so many of us, when there is an event that leads to someone's death -- and Christ knows there are enough of them -- we cast blame on a single entity.

He is to blame, the agency is to blame, her instructor was to blame... the community is to blame. Whatever. The reality we have to face is that it's the system that's at fault. We are all part of that system and it's full of faults. Occasionally the faults align and **** like this happens. (Not the suit, the death.)

 

[tracydr]

Who said anything about enriched air? While I believe there is no training agency culpability in this case training agencies should be including up to date techniques for assuring what is in a cylinder. As such, while the old standard of smell/taste may be dated it should be included right along side a discussion of using CO2 detectors. For that there are a few commercial scuba specific detectors out there that can be discussed and be included in training materials.

It's CO, not CO2.

 

[markmantei]

I did. My point being that even in the case where a training course does involve extensive information about why you should and how to verify the contents of your tank, many people choose to disregard that information once they're certified.

kari

The point is that you don't know what you don't know. If the risks of CO contamination and the proper testing procedure to mitigate that risk are not included in the training materials then it is difficult to place the blame on the vacation diver for not adequately ensuring their own safety. I am probably the biggest proponent of personal responsibility, but IMHO the training materials can certainly be improved upon to address the relatively recent addition of personal CO analysers. This isn't a blame PADI (I would bet most training agencies don't adequately cover bad gas/CO). Not to mention awareness by the general dive community can help improve best practices in our vacation destinations, similar to how Aldora has implemented extensive CO testing in their operations on Cozumel.

 

[fisheater]

Another reporter talking about "oxygen tanks." Jeez.


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[nimoh]

Another reporter talking about "oxygen tanks." Jeez.


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Very common with reporters, not entirely wrong since the tank does contain some oxygen, but mostly wrong.

This time it has an interesting twist. In the comment section one person calls out the author on this claiming that they are "air tanks" and not "oxygen tanks". But then goes on to say that air is composed of 19% oxygen and 90% nitrogen.