Dive shop waivers

[pauldw]

Now, see, this is why I don’t like going to the doctor. I worry that the doctor might not be any more competent then a lawyer.

 

[boulderjohn]

Years ago, when I was just starting my scuba instructor career, I had a student on the first pool session whose tank valve had one of those common, tiny streams of champagne bubbles. One of the other students noticed it, and I explained to the entire class that such bubbles were very common with yoke valves, and they were nothing to be concerned about. Everyone seemed satisfied.

The next day, that student did not show up for class. As the shop manager explained it, he had dropped out of the class because of the anxiety of having those bubbles coming from his tank. They had compromised his ability to perform skills (with which he had done just fine) and had led him to a sleepless night filled with anxiety. He threatened to sue to get his money back for the class, and he threatened punitive damages.

The waiver he had signed clearly protected me and the shop for my "negligence" in causing him that sleepless night filled with anxiety. That sort of thing is the reason those waivers exist.

 

[formernuke]

Now, see, this is why I don’t like going to the doctor. I worry that the doctor might not be any more competent then a lawyer.

Prefer to listen to someone who has never been to medical school????

Things vary state to state but the basic principles are the same. Actual negligence is not protected but any form you sign. What changes are things like duty to warn etc. It gets very complex very quickly. The sum is if the institution or individual does something wrong they can be held liable.

 

[lowwall]

Actual negligence is not protected but any form you sign.

Please show why the court decisions I've quoted stating the exact opposite are wrong.

Not that it should matter, but I grew up with this stuff. My parents literally wrote the textbook on recreation resources law and I did the final citation checking and Shepardizing before they sent it off to the publishers.

 

[Scuba Client]

A waiver does not simply ask you to comply with people’s directions. It has nothing to do with that. A waiver exists to protect people who screw up and hurt you, from being sued for it. It’s not an “agreement to learn,” it’s a “waiver of liability.” There would be no need for a waiver if people were willing to take responsibility for what they do to you. That said, it probably also protects businesses from overly litigious people who only think they’re victims.

If an instructor has not followed procedure and caused injury, he is negligent. The waiver is non-binding.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If an instructor has not followed procedure and caused injury, he is negligent. The waiver is non-binding.

Is that the law in Australia?

To shift the topic slightly, my impression of diving in Australia was that dive ops are insanely safety-conscious. As a newly certified diver, the boat dropped me in 6m of water over a bit of reef that still stands out in my mind today as some of the nicest I have seen. In the US I have seen boats take new divers to surprisingly deep sites. “You’ll do fine!” they say.

 

[Scuba Client]

Is that the law in Australia?

To shift the topic slightly, my impression of diving in Australia was that dive ops are insanely safety-conscious. As a newly certified diver, the boat dropped me in 6m of water over a bit of reef that still stands out in my mind today as some of the nicest I have seen. In the US I have seen boats take new divers to surprisingly deep sites. “You’ll do fine!” they say.

I believe so. Dive operators have been fined phenomenal amounts here. Don't get the impression Australian instructors are any better than the US operators. I completed my OW with an Instructor who enjoys the shortcut to success method. Lucky for me and not the others she trained, I had 4 try dives under my belt years earlier, and skin diving experience.