Calgarian suing diver training organization

[Dr. Lecter]

From the amended complaint, paragraph 10:

At all relevant times mentioned herein, and from in or during 1987 to the present, Plaintiff Cross has been a PADI nitrox-certified diver with over 200+ dives. Plaintiff received his PADI certification from PADI.

Did PADI have a nitrox cert in 1987? I'm pretty sure EAN was still voodoo gas back then. Regardless, certified in '87 and only "200+" dives by 2013 is not much diving experience.

 

[markmantei]

From the amended complaint, paragraph 10:

Did PADI have a nitrox cert in 1987? I'm pretty sure EAN was still voodoo gas back then. Regardless, certified in '87 and only "200+" dives by 2013 is not much diving experience.

Couldn't agree more, works out to about 8 dives a year over the ~ 25 years certified. Would figure that pretty typical of the casual vacation diver.

 

[Dive-aholic]

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.

Why don't you have one now? Why aren't you testing your gas now? I know of 2 divers, one now a former diver who would still be diving regularly had they tested the gas they got from a dive shop in the US. I know another diver that found 17 ppm CO in his O2 decompression cylinder. CO is not just out of country. You should be testing every single cylinder you breathe.

---------- 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?

They are not accurate enough. They work much different than the analyzers designed for scuba. It's not worth risking your life to depend on one of these.

---------- Post added December 17th, 2013 at 07:50 PM ----------

Yep, the shops should furnish the CO testers. Costs a little more than an O2 analyzer - yes, and more to maintain, but even if the shop only filled 100 tanks a month, and their wholesale cost was $300, their first year cost would be 25c/tank. I think for most Ops it'd be only a few pennies a tank.

I sell a CO analyzer for less than $200, and it's not difficult to maintain. The sensor is also less expensive to replace when that time comes.

---------- Post added December 17th, 2013 at 07:53 PM ----------

Here in Ontario, Canada there are CO detectors on most store fill systems ( I can not confirm all). Most installed monitors are sampling from all the gas passing through he fill panel. They cost a little more about $800.00 but eliminate the need to check individual cylinders as they would alarm if there was CO detected. (no fill can get missed)

Do they all have an auto shut off so when CO is detected the compressor is shut off? If not, is there a shop employee standing there watching the CO analyzer to make sure all alarms are caught. Guess what? A death occurred in Mexico just over 2 years ago and fills were obtained from a fill station that had inline CO analyzers. The fills were missed. Analyze each and every tank you breathe yourself. Don't trust anyone else with your life.

 

[DandyDon]

i sure hope not, but i'm having doubts

i find it amazing that people are allowed to sue someone else for their own ignorance, very sad state of affairs!
and why only PADI and not the instructor too?

i read the article alright
AFAIC it is ignorance if you don't go and try to educate yourself further, instead point the finger to someone else
i know you paid for your training, but before undertaking an activity with such risks attached as in scubadiving, and where everyone tries to inflict safety, its nobody's fault that you can't be bothered to do some research before jumping in the water

Ok, then you saw in the linked story another link about the Instructor being one of the injured, and it wasn't just Padi being sued. I only wished he'd included DAN for not doing more to warn divers, for as much as I value the organization - they still have not picked up the gauntlet.

So, when did you get a CO analyzer and start testing tanks...?

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Cross v. PADI America's Inc., Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, LLC, Sunshine Dive & Charter, AMX Baja Holdings, and Steadfast Companies

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I only wished he'd included DAN for not doing more to warn divers

I'm really looking forward to your explaining what legal duty DAN has to do that.


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[DandyDon]

I'm really looking forward to your explaining what legal duty DAN has to do that.

Obviously I am not a lawyer or anything similar, but in my layman's mind: DAN is the organization we trust to help make diving safer, and they will not deal with CO risks effectively. How much that fear of losing corporate financial support might play is only a guess.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

And now, with that interesting piece of reasoning, I have a slightly better understanding of why Texas is such a weirdly plaintiff-friendly state.

 

[nadwidny]

Here in Ontario, Canada there are CO detectors on most store fill systems ( I can not confirm all). Most installed monitors are sampling from all the gas passing through he fill panel. They cost a little more about $800.00 but eliminate the need to check individual cylinders as they would alarm if there was CO detected. (no fill can get missed)

A point of interest-

In Canada CSA standards for diving (Z275.2-11) only call for CO detectors on mobile compressors run by internal combustion engines. They have to be set at 3ppm and have auto shutoff. I can't find anything else about CO monitoring for diving operations.

The CSA standard for compressed breathing air (Z180.1-13)requires CO detectors with visual and audible alarms set for 5ppm.

I'm not sure what standard Ontario OHS mandates for diving but generally commercial diving ops (which include stores, etc) go with Z275. Z180 is what fire halls, oil field safety companies, sandblasters, etc are governed by.

 

[Diver0001]

From the amended complaint, paragraph 10:

Did PADI have a nitrox cert in 1987? I'm pretty sure EAN was still voodoo gas back then. Regardless, certified in '87 and only "200+" dives by 2013 is not much diving experience.

PADI introduced nitrox training in 1995.

R..

 

[abnfrog]

stores are not part of the ohs code UNLESS the employees of the store are using the gas in their job description..........so the store can ONLY be subjected to the code when a complaint is made by an employee....not a customer ....but that might change