DSD Fatality in Thailand | Feb 2016

[John A Lewis]

It's very difficult to have complete care and control, and be within arms reach at all times of 2 or more students when things go wrong, but if someone chooses to do it, they should have scenarios thought out and a good plan to do so safely.

Second that. You may not be able to think of everything that could theoretically happen, but you can have enough arrows in your quiver to be able to successfully improvise when it's called for.

 

[infieldg]

Seas were a little choppy... the instructor took me down the anchor line to ~35-40 feet (bottom) and left me on a hangline to go back up to get my wife and bring her down. She had some trouble getting her nerve up to giant stride off of the bow.. .The whole time this was going on (~5 minutes), I was left alone on the bottom! The instructor then came back down and the 2 of us proceeded with a ~35 minute dive

Wow. Mine was with two others and two DMs, it was a calm shore dive, we did the exercises in a metre of water before following a clearly explained route, we were only a short swim home, and the DMs were all over us every second, adding weight to me, total attention - I'd assumed DSD would have been as stress-free as possible by law, giant striding was hard enough first time in the pool on my OW course let alone off a bouncing bow!

The friend who bought me my OW course for xmas after I raved about my DSD later enroled for OW herself but hasn't finished it yet cos she says she freaked out in the pool at one point as so many of us do. Obviously taking people off the street and dropping them off a boat like a teabag is a bit of a lottery at the best of times, but LEAVING THEM?!

Sadly the company I went with - Underwater Odyssey in Wellington, NZ - just went under (no pun intended), while the cowboys are still out there doing this. Not fair

 

[tstormdiver]

Can the instructor not brief an "all or none" scenario? Even when doing Try Scubas in the pool, when it comes to going to the deep end, everyone goes or no one goes. If one needs to ascend, everyone ascends. Yes, there can be instances where, for some reason, someone can not ascend,.. but should be exceptionally rare. Pre dive planning & Briefing & a little common sense can go a long way.

SSI's ratios are 4:1 for pool & 2:1 for Open water Try Scubas.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agency ratios set instructors up to get in trouble. The "use your best judgment when conditions may warrant a reduction" line does nothing to protect the instructor. It only serves to cover the agency's butt.

Pool ratios of 4:1 are nuts if we acknowledge that we do not actually have students who, HOPEFULLY, have been fully briefed on all the risks of diving and may be less likely to do something bone headed. Discover, Try Scuba, Scuba Intro's of whatever you want to call them are often done with little to no discussion of the actual risks. To do that is bad for business.

Even in a pool less than 10 feet deep someone can suffer an embolism and there isn't a damn thing the instructor can do if they have four people they need to get to the surface at the same time. Humans, last time I checked, only have two hands.

If you are controlling the inflator of one person to demonstrate neutral buoyancy and you have four people at least one of them is not going to be within arms reach. That person suddenly inhaling a snootful of water and panicking which results in them shooting to the surface while holding their breath is quite possibly dead.

SEI at the last DEMA update I attended reduced the ratio to two to one. One to one with kids. Open Water experiences are forbidden. Can't do an OW Intro if I wanted to. Which I don't. After the Tuvell fiasco I chose to operate on a one to one with anyone for Intro's. Simply because I don't have the full two classroom sessions and full pool session covering swimming, snorkeling, and skin diving skills before they even get put on Scuba.

I have an OW class now with a family of four. The first time they went under the water on SCUBA it was one to one. I'd take one down, have them breathe, relax, twiddle their thumbs, communicate with me, then bring them back up. Then did the same with the next one and so on. Note that when I was under with one the first time the others were made to remove their weight belts and stand against the back of the pool touching the wall facing out.

When we did descend as a group in the shallow end it was horizontal with the buddy pairs in touch contact. As we moved to the deep end they moved as pairs in touch contact. When they swam for the first time neutral I led each one on a short loop within 8 feet of the others. The other three were made to link hands. After assuring myself that they were each comfortable and stable we started on skills.

With an Intro you don't have the time usually to take this much time. Therefore for me. More than one to one I consider unsafe. My ego is just fine with that.

 

[DevonDiver]

Agency ratios set instructors up to get in trouble. The "use your best judgment when conditions may warrant a reduction" line does nothing to protect the instructor. It only serves to cover the agency's butt.

Amen!

Having absolved themselves of any liability...."show me the money!"

 

[Bratface]

It's unthinkable to leave a DSD alone in the water. It's like leaving a baby in the bathtub to answer the phone. This man did not have to die. I don't understand why he didn't take both of them to the surface. So very irresponsible.

 

[t-mac]

It's unthinkable to leave a DSD alone in the water. It's like leaving a baby in the bathtub to answer the phone. This man did not have to die. I don't understand why he didn't take both of them to the surface. So very irresponsible.

I don't understand this either. If there was some indication of an emergency that made surfacing with the one diver urgent, I could understand that it might be better not to have to deal with 2 emergencies at the same time. Equalizing trouble does not seem to present that situation.

 

[Simon J Rogers]

Totally crazy to leave a DSD by themselves, even if they seem like they're comfortable. Very irresponsible.

In regard to ratios and safety, I think it all depends on the site and depth. Iv'e taken 2 DSD's by myself on a few occasions but only to a very shallow bay where we can all ascend trouble free if either have problems. In my opinion even a DMT on the dives is useful in the absence of a qualified DM.

 

[Steve_C]

Is it just me or does 35-40 ft seem a bit deep for a DSD? I did one in Maui for my first dive and it was 15-20. And that was after an hour or two session in a pool. It was 1-1. Well there was a second person there but that was an OW diver tagging along.

 

[Simon J Rogers]

Is it just me or does 35-40 ft seem a bit deep for a DSD? I did one in Maui for my first dive and it was 15-20. And that was after an hour or two session in a pool. It was 1-1. Well there was a second person there but that was an OW diver tagging along.

Yes I agree, I tend to avoid taking DSD's below 7 or 8m as I think it's safer that way. It's like all of the max depths and ratios in the standards though, it's all about judgement on the instructors part. You could take 8 students on open water dive 1, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea!