Diver missing off of Bainbridge Island - Washington

[DandyDon]

Search for diver off Bainbridge Island shifts from rescue to recovery | The Today File | Seattle Times

UPDATE, 4:50 p.m. | The search for a 24-year-old male diver has shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission, said Bainbridge Island Police Department Commander Susan Shultz. Fire Department Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter.
The diver’s team members from the Washington Department of Natural Resources noticed he was in distress before he sank below the water surface, but no one knows yet what went wrong, according to Bainbridge Island Fire Department Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter. He said a team of about 30 initially searched for the diver’s body, but Shultz said after a short break a team of about 15 will resume the search at about 8:30 p.m.
The team was working on routine weekly sampling of waters to check for things such as paralytic shellfish poison near Restoration Point, said Washington Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Toni Droscher.
Droscher said the Bainbridge Island Police Department will be investigating what may have happened to the diver, whose name is not being released yet.
The Bainbridge Island Fire Department started a search for a missing diver from South Beach Drive about 2:19 p.m., according to its Twitter account.
The Seattle Fire Department also has sent its dive team to help in the search for the diver, who works for the Department of Natural Resources, according to its Twitter account.
Units from the Bainbridge Island Police Department, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Washington State Patrol and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office are also assisting at the scene, according to BIFD.

 

[guppie9]

Here is some more info that has been released to the public.

A Washington State Department of Natural Resources diver who is presumed dead after disappearing Tuesday in the waters near Bainbridge Island was a 24-year-old Puyallup man.David D. Scheinost was a geoduck compliance diver with the department who was hired in February.Scheinost and two other divers were sampling for paralytic shellfish poisoning southwest of Restoration Point when he appeared to have a problem with his tank. He surfaced but went back under the water and did not come up, officials said.Search teams continue to look for his body.Scheinost graduated from the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle in 2010.“David’s family and friends, as well as his fellow divers, are in our thoughts and prayers as we come to terms with the loss of such a young and vibrant life,” DNR Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark said in a statement.
R​

ead more here: DNR diver presumed dead off Bainbridge Island is from Puyallup | Lights & Sirens - The News Tribune​

 

[DandyDon]

The death certificate for Scheinost now indicates the cause of death is “salt water drowning” with a contributing factor being "acute cocaine intoxication," the Kitsap County Sheriff's office said Tuesday. The certificate further states that Scheinost drowned while scuba diving and was intoxicated by cocaine.

See Coroner: Cocaine a factor in diver's death off Bainbridge Island | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

 

[fisheater]

Wow. Just, wow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[peterbj7]

Not wishing to tread on sensitivities here, but I lose interest in either rescue or recovery where the victim was on hard drugs. It's akin to suicide.

 

[Ayisha]

Wow, and a government diver to boot. It's good that they did thorough testing, because apparently from what I understand habitual cocaine use or overdose looks a lot like (immersion or other) pulmonary edema on an x-ray. Any Dr please feel free to correct me if that's wrong...

 

[DandyDon]

I think the diver being an on the job state employee is why the results were released.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Received at work today ...

Worker’s death leads to citation for Department of Natural Resources

TUMWATER — The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has cited the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for 15 worker-safety violations following an investigation into the drowning death of a DNR diver last summer.

The citation carries a proposed penalty of $172,900.

The deceased diver, David Scheinost, age 24, was one of a four-person dive team from the DNR Aquatic Resources Division that was collecting geoduck samples to test for paralytic shellfish poisoning from the Manzanita and Restoration Point geoduck harvest tracts off Bainbridge Island on July 24.

Two SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) divers had deployed on their third dive of the day when the victim surfaced in distress and called out that he couldn’t breathe. The others were unable to reach him before he slipped below the surface and was gone. His body was found three days later.

The L&I investigation into the dive-safety policies and practices at DNR found:

• 370 occurrences over a six-month period in which divers were deployed without carrying a reserve breathing-gas supply.
• DNR did not ensure a designated person was in charge at the dive location to supervise all aspects of the diving operation affecting the health and safety of the divers.

L&I concluded that these were “willful” violations, which means they were committed with intentional disregard or plain indifference to worker safety and health regulations.

“Commercial diving involves risks that unfortunately lead too often to tragedies like this incident,” said Anne Soiza, assistant director of L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “These significant risk factors require advance planning, properly maintained equipment and strict adherence to procedures to ensure the protection of workers’ lives on each and every dive.”

In addition to the two willful violations, L&I cited DNR for eight “serious” and five “general” violations for not complying with standard safe-diving practices and procedures, including failure to:

• Have an effective safety and health accident prevention program and training program.
• Ensure that divers maintained continual visual contact with each other.
• Inspect and maintain equipment.
• Have a stand-by diver available while divers are in the water.

In Washington, state and local governments must provide safe workplaces for their employees just like private businesses, including following the minimum workplace safety and health rules. L&I is responsible for workplace safety and health and investigating workplace deaths for all private, state and local government worksites.

DNR will have 15 working days to appeal the citation. As with any citation, penalty money paid is placed in the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping workers and families of those who have died on the job.

For a copy of the citation, please contact L&I Public Affairs at 360-902-5413.

###

For media information: Elaine Fischer, L&I Public Affairs, 360-902-5413 or visit the L&I News and Media Center.

 

[DandyDon]

No mention of the previously described "acute cocaine intoxication"...?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

No mention of the previously described "acute cocaine intoxication"...?

It's an L&I assessment of the workplace conditions. Apparently they were not following their own safety protocols. Given the language of the assessment, there was a chronic pattern of not following them.

The conclusion is that even with the cocaine factor, following their own safety protocols may have avoided the fatality. But in context I would say it's even more about avoiding future ones ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)