Death of rookie diver could have been avoided
Proper precautions were not taken, says sheriff after fatal accident inquiry
By Rita Campbell
Published: 22/11/2008
The death of a woman making her first open-water dive in an Argyll bay could have been avoided, a sheriff has ruled.
Lynn Herriot drowned while taking part in the dive at Gallanach Bay, near Oban, with the Newtongrange Branch of the Scottish Sub Aqua Club (SSAC).
In a report published yesterday following a fatal accident inquiry at Oban Sheriff Court, Sheriff Douglas Small made 15 safety recommendations. He said Miss Herriot's death might have been avoided, had the precautions been taken.
The inquiry heard that Miss Herriot, 41, of Pinewood Road, Dalkeith, Midlothian, was given a borrowed dry suit that was Excessively large for her when the Try-dive took place on May 13 2006.
She was also Over weighted after an instructor placed rocks in her pockets to help her achieve neutral buoyancy.
Sheriff Small ruled: Lynn Herriot's death might have been avoided had she been given proper pre-dive training and had appropriate precautions been taken before and during the dive.
Instructor Gordon Rankin said Miss Herriot removed her mouth piece when they surfaced at the end of the dive. He told her not to do this, before turning round to see her with her head under the water with the mouth piece having fallen away. As she started to sink he went down and held on to her but he had run out of air.
He tried to remove his weights to bring them both to the surface but he found this difficult with one hand and let go of her. When he reached the surface he could not dive after her because his weights were gone.
Miss Herriot's sister, Joyce Herriot, who was also on the dive, described the training as Haphazard?
In his report, Sheriff Small said: I consider that the lack of formalisation of the scuba dive training given at the Newtongrange dive club to be a fact relevant to the circumstances of the death.
He recommends that beginners receive detailed instruction in the use of breathing equipment and methods of buoyancy control and that they carry out at least two dives in a swimming pool
A spokesman for SSAC said: SSAC has received a copy of the determination and is considering what actions require to be taken in response to his lordship's recommendations.
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