Can people with asthma become a DM?

[The Iceni]

SubMariner once bubbled...
. . . I cannot speak to any other agency, but PADI Standards indicate the following Instructor to student ratios in Open Water:

.....The maximum ratio of student divers to instructor during the open water dives for this course is 8 students to 1 instructor. . .

Frankly, on most check-out dives for Open Water students you have nothing BUT novices.

~SubMariner~

Thank you for confirming the recommended ratios Submariner. I am sorry you appear to have taken my innocent observations personally. I have no doubt you are very professional in your work and are not reckless in any way.

I no longer dive or instruct (I gave up instructing many years ago). I have never been in a position of employing instructors or working as an employed instructor so have no axe to grind and, perhaps my position is one of a council of excellence? We live in the real world and, as you say, the vast majority of commercial operators use the PADI system.

The BSAC, as you know, is largely club based although commercial schools do exist. I can only speak from the perspective of a BSAC club diver. Our instructors aim to instil the buddy system in all trainees right from the start and the ratios, in my club at least, are one to one, or possibly two to one. This could never be financially sound in a commercial setting. The downside is the time it takes for trainees to become certified and every year there is a chorus of complaints from novices unable to find an instructor to complete their training.

In consequence there is a relatively high attrition rate but those who complete their training are, in my opinion, better qualified since they have had the benefit of personal tuition. (They need to be to dive in UK waters, in any case! I cannot conceive of a situation where a club boat dive would not be conducted with a ratio of one-to-one.)

Again, I can only speak from my own experience, but when I had my little incident last november, I was practicing drills with a single buddy who, although qualified, for some reason was unable to perform the rescue himself.

You say

Student divers may not be left unattended either at the surface or underwater.

Imagine that, at the time of my incident, my qualified buddy and I had been instructing a group of eight students on their first open water dive per PADI ratio standards. I fail to see how that group of eight novices would not have been left unattended, unless, of course, it is acceptable for novices to supervise novices.

In a more realistic commercial situation it is more likely to be one of the eight novices who has a problem (with asthma?). The single instructor will not be able to provide adequate supervision for the other seven novices while attending the casualty.

I did not set out to criticise the PADI system, but to highlight an apparent inconsistency;- In my opinion the unfit novice diver is just as much a hazard to a group of divers as an unfit instructor.

There can only be one standard of medical fitness to dive.

 

[SubMariner]

Imagine that, at the time of my incident, my qualified buddy and I had been instructing a group of eight students on their first open water dive per PADI ratio standards. I fail to see how that group of eight novices would not have been left unattended, unless, of course, it is acceptable for novices to supervise novices.

Firstly, you do not indicate what level your "qualified buddy" is at. Since you are an Instructor, I would assume h/s to be at least a Certified Assistant. Ergo, h/s would be the one watching the students if "an incident" occurred.

A good briefing prior to entering the water would have covered what was expected of everyone in the event of a problem. Basically, if something happened, the entire group would be expected to abort the dive and return to the surface for egress.

~SubMariner~

 

[The Iceni]

SubMariner once bubbled...
Firstly, you do not indicate what level your "qualified buddy" is at. . .

A good briefing prior to entering the water would have covered what was expected of everyone in the event of a problem. Basically, if something happened, the entire group would be expected to abort the dive and return to the surface for egress.

~SubMariner~

Hi Submariner,

I was a club intructor many years ago but did not renew the qualification. I am/was a BSAC advanced diver and gained the Extended Range qualification in 2001. (I repeated all the necessary qualifications for AD on my return to diving four years ago and I intended to do the a trimix course this year). If my memory serves me correctly, Chris is a dive leader (PDAI dive Master?) and I do know he completed his diver rescue training (BSAC Practical Rescue Management) the week before the incident.

I lead the diving and most certainly provided him with a very thorough brief before the dives, using the mnemonic SEEDS;-

1. 
   [*]Safety
   [*]Exercise (the purpose and dive plan.)
   [*]Equipment
   [*]Discipline
   [*]Signals
   [/list=1]
   
   In addition we both performed a buddy check immediately prior to each dive using the mnemonic BAR;-
   
   1. 
      [*]Buoyancy (gas in and gas out of BC and dry suit)
      [*]Air (gas content and checks on all regulators)
      [*]Releases (weight belt, harness and suit inflator)
      [/list=1]
      
      I have yet to understand why neither Chris, nor my eventual rescuers, thought to release my weight belt (as I gather my cylinders were found to be empty - due to the free-flow that followed when my regulator left my mouth - and they did not think to inflate my BC orally.) Even then, the profile shows my final ascent was like a rocket. It was just as well I had no deco obligations, the effects of a CAGE were bad enough! (I had performed many hundreds of dives and was totally unaware that I had a PFO, so my sudden loss of consciousness was totally unexpected.)
      
      Sadly, I believe my buddy let me down very badly. Indeed, I may have been rescued much earlier if I had been diving in a group of three or more qualified divers. This was not a teacing dive. We were practicing standard drills in a "confined" open water environment as qualified buddy pair, in which I was to practice a controlled buoyant lift during the ascent.
      
      Even BSAC do not advocate two instructors/dive leaders to one "student". So, in reply to your particular point I consider it would be quite unwise to rely on any novice to perform a rescue and it is axiomatic that if any rescue is required, when instructing novices in a large group, the remaining students will indeed be "left unattended" to ascend by themselves.
      
      Clearly, niether method is completely problem-free.

 

[SubMariner]

Excellent mneumonics! Ours are a bit different for leading dives, but basically cover the same points.

And of course we always do a BWRAF aka Begin With Review And a Friend:

BC
Weight System
Releases
Air
Final Check (fins, masks & the like)

Needless to say, not only is it a safety issue, but also good form to do this regardless of the group level of training.

To my knowledge the BSAC Diveleader and PADI Divemaster are similar ratings.

Your experience was indeed regretable. Thankfully, you are here to talk about it!

DSDO,

~SubMariner~

 

[The Iceni]

I cannot claim any credit for the mnemonics but agree that there should be a final check.

The buddy check would then read BARF!!=-)

. . . perhaps not!!:embarr:

I'm glad we've settled our differences.

Kind regards,