Calgarian suing diver training organization

[Doppler]

But then goes on to say that air is composed of 19% oxygen and 90% nitrogen.

They are 110% wrong on that score...

 

[Hawkwood]

... similar to how Aldora has implemented extensive CO testing in their operations on Cozumel.

Not to be a total jerk (just a little bit of one), you are still relying on a third party.

Not that I disagree with what you have said.

 

[DandyDon]

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.

I've seen readable CO in tanks inside the US. In chatting with LDS owners, I still find that many do not understand that a hot compressor can produce CO internally - and I test any tank! I also removed the flow restrictor to test my home heater and water heater.

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?

Much too slow to respond with tolerance levels for 1 atmosphere only. Testing quickly and accurately in the 0-100 ppm just costs more, and I don't think those detect that low. Indeed, they'd be criticized if not worse for their false readings if they read that low.

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.

Yeah, we see many Instructors defending the problem rather than helping with the solution. "Divers are instructed to buy air only from professional dive stores and to make sure the proper compressor is used when filling the tank." Sorry, that's part of the problem.

Not to be a total jerk (just a little bit of one), you are still relying on a third party.

Not that I disagree with what you have said.

Yep, Aldora has taken the lead on Cozumel, even after helping the primary fill station install CO monitors - but still getting tainted air from them. I still test all tanks, regardless of sources claimed.

 

[markmantei]

Not to be a total jerk (just a little bit of one), you are still relying on a third party.

Not that I disagree with what you have said.

The solution is multi-faceted.

1. Training to raise awareness to the potential issues and their severity
2. Individual responsibility to test your own gas
3. Customer demands for better testing from their suppliers

We need to test our own gas because there have been enough incidents (albeit still a small number as a percentage of dives) to indicate that there is a failure in the existing system. Anyone who would disagree should argue that with Rhonda's husband. Many years ago I was involved in loading and delivering jet fuel for airlines. Fuel batches were tested at the refinery. Fuel loaded into the tanker was tested again at the time of loading, and then again by the receiver at the airport. Pilots did not need to test their own fuel because the system adequately protected them from bad fuel being loaded into the plane through several redundant tests. In a perfect world, divers would not need to test their gas as it would already be safe 100% of the time. Unfortunately that has proven to not be the case with CO contamination.

 

[Ken T]

My second thought about this was that PADI will recommend that all students buy a CO detector after this lawsuit ends.

A item I'm sure they will be happy to supply for a suitable price.

 

[abnfrog]

if i understand what the husband is saying ...that a diver with 200 divers DOES NOT KNOW about co hits ? yeah right and has not seen or heard of co detectors during their dive career ? yeah right ... just another person trying to lay blame ........is this going to be like sue happy USA here in canada now ??????

 

[DandyDon]

if i understand what the husband is saying ...that a diver with 200 divers DOES NOT KNOW about co hits ? yeah right and has not seen or heard of co detectors during their dive career ? yeah right ... just another person trying to lay blame ........is this going to be like sue happy USA here in canada now ??????

Well, yeah. Not commonly known much less appreciated risk. Many divers much more experienced than I see me test my tanks, but they still don't.

 

[markmantei]

My second thought about this was that PADI will recommend that all students buy a CO detector after this lawsuit ends.

A item I'm sure they will be happy to supply for a suitable price.

I'm going to take us out into a weird utopian bizarro world, but most places you can get nitrox also supply a O2 analyser so those without one can analyse their own tanks. Divers that are properly trained have come to expect this as the norm. It would not take much to have a shop CO analyser that all divers could use to analyse every tank, provided they were properly trained to use the analyser. Divers that are independent or do not trust how well the shop gear is maintained would still be able to purchase their own, just as they do with O2 analysers. Ken, I would even support our local dive community chipping in to offset the costs to the shops, perhaps this is a discussion that would be worth having.

 

[Damselfish]

if i understand what the husband is saying ...that a diver with 200 divers DOES NOT KNOW about co hits ? yeah right and has not seen or heard of co detectors during their dive career ? yeah right ...

Merits of anything else aside, that wouldn't surprise me at all. I think lots of people even with a fair amount of experience just dive and don't really read much more about it, keep up with anything, or remember everything that may or may not have been covered in their class that they don't use on a regular basis.

 

[Hawkwood]

My second thought about this was that PADI will recommend that all students buy a CO detector after this lawsuit ends.

A item I'm sure they will be happy to supply for a suitable price.

Okay now, that is a bit disingenuous. You do know that PADI does not sell dive gear, right? To be fair, why not add ACUC, NAUI, SSI, and the whole host of alphabets to your comment.