Commercial Diver Student Drowns

[reddeaddiver]

Student commercial diver Trout River

Any one have any information on this?

 

[Johnoly]

I have no further info.

But CDA uses Full head 'helmet' diving. Combined with U/W Voice comm's, tenders, rescue divers and all the people watching, I would think it would be next to impossible to "Drown" because the helmet is positive pressure.
But I'd rather ask @Akimbo his comments if this situation could result in a 'Drowning"
(PS the news frequently gets the details wrong on dive accidents)

 

[broncobowsher]

I wonder if a little electrocution was involved. I've heard you don't want to get between the electrode and the ground clamp. Low vis water, student, welder. I have had nasty zaps stick welding on land.

 

[bakodiver391]

In a school environment, I just can't imagine not having a second diver in the water and diver to diver comms. Some part of the system was obviously lacking and no doubt heads will roll.

 

[Akimbo]

I would think it would be next to impossible to "Drown" because the helmet is positive pressure.

Positive pressure might be slightly misleading. Hats are slightly positive pressure when the freeflow valve is open, but that is not the norm. There is a not-great fitting oral nasal mask inside the hat which is connected to a demand regulator outside the hat. The regulator is not normally adjusted to a positive pressure. That said, it is pretty hard to flood a hat to the point that someone will drown.

On the other hand, aspirating a little water is possible which could look like drowning on an autopsy table. Drowning victims normally have water in their lungs measured in CCs not Liters.

But I'd rather ask @Akimbo his comments if this situation could result in a 'Drowning"
(PS the news frequently gets the details wrong on dive accidents)

Not enough info to make a comment, but you are wise to question the accuracy of first reports.

In a school environment, I just can't imagine not having a second diver in the water and diver to diver comms.

Nope. Solo is the norm with a standby diver suited up on deck with the hat on their lap. This is true for virtually all surface supplied diving, training or the real world. Remember that the diver is at the end of an umbilical and has a bailout bottle. The standby diver won't have to waste time finding a diver in distress.

 

[DandyDon]

Follow up article says he told his instructors that his helmet was flooding, and the "Instructors told him to vent the water through his mask." That does not sound right.

Student diver told instructors his helmet was filling up with water, report says

A student at commercial diving school CDA Technical Institute drowned Thursday in the Trout River while doing low visibility underwater welding training, authorities said.

www.news4jax.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A student at commercial diving school CDA Technical Institute drowned Thursday in the Trout River while doing low visibility underwater welding training, authorities said.

The diver radioed to instructors that his helmet was filling up with water, according to an incident report. Instructors told him to vent the water through his mask -- but the diver stopped communicating.

Someone then jumped into the water to rescue the man, but efforts to give him CPR were unsuccessful.

Related: Student diver drowns in Trout River during underwater welding training

The student diver was training to be an underwater welder at C-D-A Technical Institute.

Sgt. Steve Rudlaff with Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the man was between 40 and 45 years old.

No foul play is suspected, Rudlaff said. The body will be taken to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

“There were other students belonging to the institute taking the low visibility class, however, it is very low visibility, so there are instructors and there are also rescue divers,” Rudlaff said.

The school, located on Trout River Drive, is cooperating with investigators, JSO said.

The institute says on its website that it is a fully accredited diving program with on-campus housing with courses for commercial diving training lasting four months.

Rudlaff said the course that the man was in is advanced, meaning he would have had some previous diver training.

Someone with the institute told News4JAX that it had no comment at this point. Click here to read more.

 

[Akimbo]

Per article in @DandyDon's post above:

The diver radioed to instructors that his helmet was filling up with water, according to an incident report. Instructors told him to vent the water through his mask -- but the diver stopped communicating.

The reporter likely used "radioed" because the intercom box is often called a radio in commercial and military diving. I always suspected it was because the early vacuum tube boxes look like a metal version of a radio (receiver) found in homes of that era. The name stuck even thought no radio waves are involved.

It is not unusual to lose communications in most hats when flooded, even after blowing dry. Potted waterproof (lollipop) mics and speakers are more expensive and have worse sound quality than the cheapo non-waterproof versions.

 

[Johnoly]

There's a podcast on Spotify called "The Bottom Dweller's Dive Shack diving podcast".

They discussed this accident and mentioned a couple of other items {according to them, not me}

* The diver was at Dive Station #7. There is normally no welding at this station, it is for rigging & Salvage exercises

* Another diver (possibly student) saw the diver laying down and assisted bringing him to the surface.

* There was a standby diver at the station and a tender.

* {speculation on their part} a loose/fit problem neck dam maybe was observed on the helmet

* {Speculation on their part} This student was at another training school before CDA.

This is all 3rd person & hearsay so don't take it as factual unless /until it is confirmed from an official source for legal purposes. Best to listen to the podcast for any questions you may have.

 

[Gene]

I have observed and even photographed the CDA guys in training years ago at 40 Fathom and everything I saw was definitely safety first and squared away.

 

[DandyDon]

It seems that this was the second death in as many months for this school, and it has a reputation for carelessness...

INVESTIGATES: Action News Jax confirms death of 2nd student this year at Jacksonville diving school

Action News Jax has confirmed the death of a second student diver at CDA Technical Institute this year.

www.actionnewsjax.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax has confirmed the death of a second student diver at CDA Technical Institute this year.

We told you last week that a student diver at the Jacksonville commercial diving school died during a training exercise in the Trout River. The student was identified as 41-year-old Fausto Martin.

Martin told instructors his dive helmet was filling up with water, according to a police report. His brother, Jose, confirmed Fausto’s helmet was full of water when his body was pulled from the water.


Now we’re learning that a second student drowned two months prior during a dive in Flamingo Lake, according to a newly obtained report.

Family identified the victim as 34-year-old Victor Pierce, a husband and father of two.

RELATED: Brother of man who drowned in Trout River during welding class speaks

Action News Jax has spoken to many former and current students and instructors since the Apr. 14 incident, who claim there were problems at the school.

Michael Barron was a 35-year veteran diver in 2014 when he said he was hired as a freshman instructor at CDA where he worked for five years. He told Action News Jax Tuesday that he was stunned to hear two student divers died in seemingly back-to-back incidents.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Barron said.

During his time at CDA, Barron says he instructed students on the fundamentals of diving, such as how to get water out of a helmet and what to do in an emergency situation—situations like the one he believes Martin found himself in last week.

According to Pierce’s Feb. drowning report, one of the instructors was 26-years-old. Barron told us that’s too young to be teaching divers. “You’re eight to ten years in at that point before you should be teaching a class.”

Christopher Martin, a former dive student who went on to work as a CDA instructor for two years accused the school of cutting corners with safety protocols and says he wants it to be shut down. “There’s too many of us that know about it and we’re sick of it.”

Martin says he ultimately left the school after witnessing repeated unsafe practices.

The report states alcohol intoxication contributed to Pierce’s death, but both Martin and Barron say if an instructor suspected any students of being under the influence, the student should never have been allowed in the water.

“Every instructor is supposed to inspect their diver before they get in the water up to and including an alcohol breathalyzer test,” Barron told us.

One student who wished to remain anonymous had concerns over the safety of the equipment, alleging his school-issued gear has failed twice during underwater training. The student said he bought his own gear fearing the school’s equipment would fail at deeper and more dangerous depths.

RELATED: Student drowns in Trout River during underwater welding class at Jacksonville Technical Institute

A petition created Monday is now calling for student diving operations to be suspended. As of Tuesday afternoon, it’s been signed by hundreds of people.

“We have put together a petition to be signed by all diving personnel to force CDA to cease and desist all diving operations until the investigations of the two diver deaths in the last month and a half are completed and they are cleared,” Victor Rivera said in a Facebook live video Monday.

Action News Jax received the calls of service to CDA over the past ten years and discovered JSO was called to the school 356 times, including for suicides, assaults, and other disputes.

We reached out to CDA once again and were told no comment.

---

CDA is one of only a handful of fully accredited commercial diver training programs in the United States.

It is a line of technical work that is known for being uniquely hazardous and highly lucrative.

Underwater welders maintain and repair underwater structures such as undersea pipes, offshore structures, and nuclear power plants. Some of the most common dangers faced by underwater welders include electric shock, explosions, drowning, decompression sickness, as well as the physical wear and tear that comes working under high-pressure conditions.

The typical salary varies, but some commercial divers report making upwards of $300,000 a year.

In the United States, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports the majority of commercial divers are employed in Florida, Louisiana, Washington, Virginia, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Vermont.