DAN Responds

[JohnN]

Abaco Cave Diver Evacuation

Just before Christmas, a DAN member who was diving in Abaco, Bahamas, experienced an incident that resulted in decompression illness. When he contacted DAN and tried to access the benefits […]

dan.org

DAN responds the the issue surrounding Woody from Dive talk.

Mistakes happen. What's important is those mistakes are recognized and actions taken to eliminate them for future incidents. A++ for DAN

 

[noserider]

I didn’t really see any changes in their governance, internal audit, or quality programs.

So let’s all imagine this was the company you worked for and they said they were going to make those changes. I’m guessing not many of you would have a high degree of confidence in them solving the underlying issues that led to the situation in the first place.

That's a slightly cynical response, what I i see is a public acknowledgement of failures and a commitment to change and improve by their leaders, which is very uncommon response. No matter how many Auditors, governance or quality programs you have unless the leadership is fully behind them then they will fail and what have here is clear leadership commitment to change.

Maybe I am now cynical but I have seen so many companies / industries that were lauded for their governance, risk, IA and quality programs fail and even in the case of the financial industries they were bailed out by the tax paying general public and these bail outs never repaid.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I didn’t really see any changes in their governance, internal audit, or quality programs.

Help me understand why these would be necessary or weren't done.

Quality programs evaluate quality and modify procedures or personnel (e.g., fire the slackers) if quality is lacking. DAN's doing that now. I'm not sure these programs would ever prevent all problems, and one incident where they had to rely on what amounts to a customer complaint doesn't tell us how many other problems were averted. (And even a few on SCUBA Board pointing to problems doesn't tell us much. The plural of anecdote isn't data.)

A purely internal audit won't catch the dissatisfied customers. And sometimes the only way a company knows there's a problem is if a customer complains. E.g., I teach dry suit diver courses routinely. Students use rental dry suits. Sometimes leaks develop in the rental suit. The only way the shop knows there is a leak is if the student tells them. (And they often forget, despite my reminding them.) It's not until the minor leak becomes a major leak that a student is likely to complain. (A minor leak is trivial. Student notices their damp around one knee post dive, but forgets by the time they return the rental gear. It's when their whole leg is soaked they tell somebody.)

And why change governance if problems are being taken care of? That leads to executives covering up problems rather than admitting them and changing things.

 

[L13]

I see so many comments like this so I’m not singling you out with this reply.

So let me get this straight they didn’t do what they were suppose to do, got blasted for it publicly and are now making changes. I agree the changes sound like they should help. Assuming they’re followed, that being said if the SOPs they already had in place where followed then this would have happened in the first place.

I didn’t really see any changes in their governance, internal audit, or quality programs.

So let’s all imagine this was the company you worked for and they said they were going to make those changes. I’m guessing not many of you would have a high degree of confidence in them solving the underlying issues that led to the situation in the first place.

"I didn't see X, so it didn't happen."

Change in governance? What about this instance suggests to you that there was a governance problem?

 

[Fastmarc]

Abaco Cave Diver Evacuation

Just before Christmas, a DAN member who was diving in Abaco, Bahamas, experienced an incident that resulted in decompression illness. When he contacted DAN and tried to access the benefits […]

dan.org

DAN responds the the issue surrounding Woody from Dive talk.

I apprciate this response and will continue to support them, even when I'm not diving, like during the pandemic.

 

[crofrog]

"I didn't see X, so it didn't happen."

Change in governance? What about this instance suggests to you that there was a governance problem?

What function does corporate governance provide?

 

[crofrog]

That's a slightly cynical response, what I i see is a public acknowledgement of failures and a commitment to change and improve by their leaders, which is very uncommon response. No matter how many Auditors, governance or quality programs you have unless the leadership is fully behind them then they will fail and what have here is clear leadership commitment to change.

Maybe I am now cynical but I have seen so many companies / industries that were lauded for their governance, risk, IA and quality programs fail and even in the case of the financial industries they were bailed out by the tax paying general public and these bail outs never repaid.

Agreed, I've seen just as many press releases from organizations promising that we'll be better this next time around Trust us. (tm)

I'm very hopeful these changes will be implemented and be effective, but I think anyone who's like "welp the problem is fixed, they said so." is delusional.

 

[L13]

What function does corporate governance provide?

Are you suggesting it should just be eliminated, rather than changed?

 

[tursiops]

So let me get this straight they didn’t do what they were suppose to do, got blasted for it publicly and are now making changes.

Actually, they made the changes before being blasted publicly. Rather an important distinction....

 

[acxc]

Actually, they made the changes before being blasted publicly. Rather an important distinction....

Then why was the video necessary?