This is not a case about Kevin's cause of death, nor is it a case of what the Coast Guard investigations branch knows about diving (which they will admit is nothing). This is a case of the Coast Guard is tired of investigating reports of diver fatalities and seeing that the dive boat had no procedures, or had inadequate procedures, or just didn't follow the procedures that they had.
Read carefully the findings of fact. The SPV Miss Lindsey had some procedures, had conducted drills, and had one experienced (albeit not very experienced) and one trainee deckhand, and one experienced captain. The first ding was that the Captain did not ensure that training was completed properly for her crew. How would she do that? I would be overwhelmed as a day boat captain with a volunteer crew, but the answer is that drills must be conducted and logged periodically, and the highest value drills are the ones that are conducted with realism. Fire Extinguisher training should be conducted when something is on fire. Man overboard training (in essence this was treated as a man overboard, as the man overboard dummy cannot help itself) must be conducted by actually rescuing a 185 lb dummy that can't climb the dive ladder. Conducting this training is expensive, time consuming, and if you have a large number of crewmembers from all over, means that you have to gather them up to get the training conducted. Training periodicity are:
Abandon ship drill - Must happen every voyage within 24 hours of departure.
Fire Drill - Weekly, and must be a different drill scenario each week, rotating.
Man Overboard - Must happen monthly
How many dive boats can afford to use a fire extinguisher ever week or month or whenever a new crewmember steps onboard, but that is the requirement. If you violate the requirement, you may get your license yanked.
The second ding was that the master did not require her crew to follow written vessel procedures, nor did she follow those procedures herself. She was in the galley when she should have been watching for approaching vessels and for divers surfacing away from the boat. The Coast Guard admits that they don't know what goes on on a dive boat, and I would certainly go make lunch (I'm never on deck when divers are jumping off the boat) when divers are jumping. But the procedure in place said that the captain would watch for approaching vessels and for divers making free ascents. She also failed to follow procedures when she had her mates go attempt to rescue Kevin without following established Man Overboard (MOB) procedures. MOB is something fairly common to all vessels and every vessel procedure has the first responder wear a floatation device and take a float with them. I don't know any dive boat that actually does this, but the procedures are very clear. The Coast Guard hates it when you have a procedure and you don't follow it.
If you don't follow your own written procedures, you may get your license yanked.
The third ding was based on the first 2, and found the master negligent for putting her crewmembers at risk, by sending them to perform a rescue without proper floatation themselves. Remember rescue class? the first rule is not to become a victim yourself. Again, I don't know of any dive boat that keeps a PFD available for the rescuing crew to use at a moment's notice, but I'll bet a few dive boats are about to change where they stage their gear. Mine included.
If you don't protect your crew from harm, you might get your license yanked.
The 4th ding was that the SPV Miss Lindsey didn't have specific emergency diving procedures in place to respond to a diving emergency. The Coast Guard has said numerous times in the past that generic procedures for crossing hazardous bars, MOB and fire are not sufficient for vessels engaged in unique sports that carry unique hazards like diving, and they give parasailing as another example. Every vessel that carries passengers must adhere to a set of rules, and if you carry weird passengers like divers and snorklers, you gotta write your own rules.
If you fail to, you might get your license yanked.
Now, my own opinion. I think Becky (whom I don't know) did everything in her power to make sure that Kevin would survive the dive. The Coast Guard doesn't feel that way. I understand the dive business, and know how dive boats work, and the Coast Guard knows what is in a book. The operate vessels with many crew onboard to take care of problems as they crop up. Dive boats are limited financially and room wise to carrying fewer crew, and 99.999% of the time, the crew that boats carry is sufficient. The Coast Guard has a "zero injuries" policy when it comes to the operation of small passenger vessels, and, while zero injuries would be a nice goal to attain, and we can all strive to attain it, it just isn't realistic that no one will ever die on a dive boat again.
This should serve as a wakeup to dive boat operators (myself included) that the days of being a taxi ride to the dive site (a term my investigator hates passionately, BTW) are over. Operators have a duty to their passengers throughout the entire voyage, from dock to dock. I've said that for years, and I maintain it today. The taxi ride to the dive site just doesn't cut it anymore, and it really never did. The excuse has been used for so long, especially on the NorthEast boats that the Coast Guard just showed us how wrong we are.
Oh, and for the Florida Keys dive boat operators who drag a captain out of bed to take the boat out, and pick up a DM off the street to fill a deckhand spot on the boat? Lt. CDR Capelli (Florida Keys Investigations branch cheif) is looking at you, specifically.
