Child diving while sharing regulator

[kodiak1961]

We just heard about a group of divers that took an 11 year old diving in the Keys. The young girl is not certified, they took her to 30 feet in open water, using their emergency back up regulators for multiple dives. The child was brought down by holding onto the adults weight belts. The child has chronic asthma. Short of being just stupid, is this criminal? What are the regulations, rules and guidelines for this in Florida? PADI? etc.

 

[String]

I doubt its criminal if they were guardian of the child. PADI guidelines only affect DMs,AIs and Instructors so have no power or control over anyone else.

You could possibly get the parents for endangering the child but it'd be very hard one to convict and i doubt anyone would bother.

 

[fisheater]

Could easily be criminal child endangerment. You'd have to have a cop who understood the danger those fools put the kid into, though.

Should be felony stupid.

BTW, PADI guidelines DO cover all PADI divers. It's right in the original paperwork. You promise not to allow any non-trained folks use your gear, etc.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I've taken my uncertified 8-9 yr old children down under my arm while breathing off the octopus. I kept the depth closer to 12 feet and my kids never had asthma. 30 feet is pretty deep for something like that.

 

[Gary D.]

Could easily be criminal child endangerment. You'd have to have a cop who understood the danger those fools put the kid into, though.

Should be felony stupid.

I would gladly make the arrest for child endangerment and turn the child over to Health and Welfare. Then let the ambulance chasers fight it out.

Gary D.

 

[String]

BTW, PADI guidelines DO cover all PADI divers. It's right in the original paperwork. You promise not to allow any non-trained folks use your gear, etc.

And what exactly can/are they going to do for someone breaking these rules? They aren't padi members so cant be expelled, can't pull their certification cards.

Not that ive seen the paperwork for years but i dont remember ever seeing anything about not letting untrained people use the gear.

 

[knotical]

dont remember ever seeing anything about not letting untrained people use the gear.

I don't know about other agencies, but for PADI, it’s in the third paragraph of their
Standard Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding,
that is signed by all Open Water Students

“3. . . .
Deny use of my equipment to uncertified divers. . . .”

The form can be seen at:
http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/forms/pdf/10060-Ver1-3.pdf

 

[Brewski]

I don't know about other agencies, but for PADI, it’s in the third paragraph of their
Standard Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding,
that is signed by all Open Water Students

“3. . . .
Deny use of my equipment to uncertified divers. . . .”

The form can be seen at:
http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/forms/pdf/10060-Ver1-3.pdf

How many people actually read that statement when they sign it?
Besides its not a legally binding rule, just a statement designed to protect you as the instructor and PADI as the agency in case something happens.

 

[In10se]

Not saying what was done was very smart, but I would say we need more info about the background on the kid. How do we know the child isn't certified? What is the dive history of the people she was with? In other words, this is an "I heard" kinda deal with no background that we're all getting worked over. Stupidity kills in diving and protection of our little ones is a primal instinct so yeah, we are all on the ***!?!?!? mindset. More info would be good though before we stone the parents and toss the kid into the world of social service institutions.

Add that I'm clueless about the depths children are able to dive to safely, but 30' isn't all that deep is it?

 

[gypsyjim]

Not the brightest thing to do, that's for sure, but while it isn't really safe it is also not criminal. I'd suggest that simply pointing out that this type of diving is considered an unsafe action throughout the diving community and that there are inexpensive "discover scuba" type programs designed to expose children that age to the wonders of the sport, safely, rather than calling for Big Brother to arrest the parents would seem to me to be the least destructive approach. Just my opinion.

There are certainly plenty of certified divers who ignore established safety proceedures, which is foolish, but I'm glad I live in land where The Law doesn't control every action in our lives. Criminal stupidity is not illegal...yet. Sometimes it's better to let Darwin establish the rules instead of pollititians.