deepwaterferret
Guest
Mike, while you are correct, a personal injury lawyer is going to make one critical distinction.
None of the other types of "non-recreational" diving you mentioned violate the tennets of PADI, NAUI, SSI. They don't say those other kinds of diving are forbidden. All those organizations say about decompresion diving, wreck diving and cave diving is that you need the appropriate training and equipment, which is not part
of the OW cirriculum. But they don't discourage these activities per se. Instead, they encourage you to take more classes and get certified to do those things, if you are interested.
In contrast, solo diving is something that violates the basic core of their safety system, and they don't offer any courses to certify you for it. Take away the buddy sytem, and these organizations lose most of their legal defenses to a claim that scuba is unsafe for beginners.
Back to your example, if a student sees an instructor cave diving, it is not setting a bad example. Presumably, the instructor told students during the class that he was trained and certified and equipped to do that, and they should not attempt it without doing the same. If the student came up to the instructor, they would surely have that conversation if the student showed interest.
The instructor cannot make the same statement about solo diving. None of the main certifying agencies certify or endorse solo diving. The instructor can't say, "It's okay for me but not for you because I am solo certified." You can't escape the fact that you are doing something right in front of your former student that PADI, SSI and NAUI say you should not do.
So, I do think the personal injury lawyer would have a good argument that the solo diving set a bad example, period.
However, in my opinion, based on general principles of tort law, I do not think the instructor has a legal duty after the class is completed and the instructor-student relationship has ended to always set a "good" example. You teach the class by the book, finish the class, send the students home, and what you do on your own time away from class is your own business.
None of the other types of "non-recreational" diving you mentioned violate the tennets of PADI, NAUI, SSI. They don't say those other kinds of diving are forbidden. All those organizations say about decompresion diving, wreck diving and cave diving is that you need the appropriate training and equipment, which is not part
of the OW cirriculum. But they don't discourage these activities per se. Instead, they encourage you to take more classes and get certified to do those things, if you are interested.
In contrast, solo diving is something that violates the basic core of their safety system, and they don't offer any courses to certify you for it. Take away the buddy sytem, and these organizations lose most of their legal defenses to a claim that scuba is unsafe for beginners.
Back to your example, if a student sees an instructor cave diving, it is not setting a bad example. Presumably, the instructor told students during the class that he was trained and certified and equipped to do that, and they should not attempt it without doing the same. If the student came up to the instructor, they would surely have that conversation if the student showed interest.
The instructor cannot make the same statement about solo diving. None of the main certifying agencies certify or endorse solo diving. The instructor can't say, "It's okay for me but not for you because I am solo certified." You can't escape the fact that you are doing something right in front of your former student that PADI, SSI and NAUI say you should not do.
So, I do think the personal injury lawyer would have a good argument that the solo diving set a bad example, period.
However, in my opinion, based on general principles of tort law, I do not think the instructor has a legal duty after the class is completed and the instructor-student relationship has ended to always set a "good" example. You teach the class by the book, finish the class, send the students home, and what you do on your own time away from class is your own business.