Exhibit or Aquarium Diver Specialty

[Dr Neil]

I am the safety officer of the volunteer dive team at the Virginia Aquarium and I was thinking of a hook to keep divers.

If we offer some type of specialty, perhaps it would be a good incentive to stay on the team.

 

[muddiver]

I am the safety officer of the volunteer dive team at the Virginia Aquarium

What is a "CBA Diver" ? As quoted in the VAMSC VOLUNTEER DIVER BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR DIVE TEAM MEMBERSHIP posted on the VAMSC web site.

 

[paddler3d]

I'd sure hate to be in the administration there where there to be an accident ... amateur volunteers have as much place there as they would on a commercial diving job - none what-so-ever.

I'm sure the Administrators sleep fine. We have more OSHA rules and regs to deal with than I care to know.

Whenever we have 'commercial divers' in the exhibits they tend to have the volunteer divers in there making sure they don't f&$k things up. In fact during a recent renovation of one of the exhibits we found ourselves in a quandary. Most of the 'commercial divers' had fewer than the required number of loged dives to even try out to become a volunteer diver. Let's talk about how the 'commercial divers' dive. They don't, they walk.

There is a team out there where the least experienced team member is only the step only full cave certified.

There have been commercial divers that have tried out and didn't make it, because they couldn't dive.

It is a fine environment for volunteers.

I am the safety officer of the volunteer dive team at the Virginia Aquarium and I was thinking of a hook to keep divers.

If we offer some type of specialty, perhaps it would be a good incentive to stay on the team.

 

[paddler3d]

I would look at all the training that we receive, in order to keep with all the rules and regs, as a 2x sword. Sure I get some new certs, but it is also a PITA.

The hook is I like my dive team, I like the staff, and where else do I get to feed a green sea turtle, moray eels and a ton if rays. The animals are the hook, at least for me.

 

[muddiver]

I'm sure the Administrators sleep fine. We have more OSHA rules and regs to deal with than I care to know.

Whenever we have 'commercial divers' in the exhibits they tend to have the volunteer divers in there making sure they don't f&$k things up. In fact during a recent renovation of one of the exhibits we found ourselves in a quandary. Most of the 'commercial divers' had fewer than the required number of loged dives to even try out to become a volunteer diver. Let's talk about how the 'commercial divers' dive. They don't, they walk.

There is a team out there where the least experienced team member is only the step only full cave certified.

There have been commercial divers that have tried out and didn't make it, because they couldn't dive.

It is a fine environment for volunteers.

That is like saying "all technical divers have no idea what a BCD is or how to use an octo" because they are trained on BP/W and long hose slt air sources. Therefore, all tech divers are *****d up.

How could you be in a quandry over the qualifications of a commercial diver? Were these "volunteers" working under your program, or were they employees of a contractor that had been hired to do work? If they are a contractor's divers, their qualifications are not your concern beyond whether they can perform the work or not.

I think that you experienced a group of Pile Drivers that are qualified to work underwater using surface supplied diving equipment. Pile Butts typically don't do mid-water work and would not be profecient at staying neutrally buoyant.

Being cave certified does not satisfy the OSHA requirement to either follow OSHA diving requirements (i.e. diver tethered to the surface, three man dive team, etc.) or being eximpt by being an AAUS dive program. It just means the guy can enter and exit an underwater cave without killing himself. If your program is not AAUS, military or for the purposes of instruction in recreational diving, than you fall in the OSHA requirements. You can't justify your way out of it.

Good idea having the volunteer divers watch/escort the commercial divers. I worked at teh Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific and I notice most of the divers, volunteer or paid, had no since of situational-awareness, and a lot of plastic coral was getting damaged.

 

[garyfotodiver]

I am the safety officer of the volunteer dive team at the Virginia Aquarium and I was thinking of a hook to keep divers.

If we offer some type of specialty, perhaps it would be a good incentive to stay on the team.

There are two types of certification: External (eg. SSI) and Internal, where the organization sets the requirements and the training course.

Devise a course, a good course, provide a certificate (eg. Certified Virginia Aquarium Diver), and make some logo t-shirts. This provides an incentive. You could require retraining every couple of years.

Good Luck with your project!

 

[Thalassamania]

I am the safety officer of the volunteer dive team at the Virginia Aquarium and I was thinking of a hook to keep divers.

If we offer some type of specialty, perhaps it would be a good incentive to stay on the team.

The best incentive that I can think of would be to set up an AAUS program that would provide your institution with peace of mind and your divers with scientific diver status.

I'm sure the Administrators sleep fine. We have more OSHA rules and regs to deal with than I care to know.

I suspect that the administration, due to the number of rules and regs they have to deal with, is unaware of the problem. You, on the other hand, are not doing them a service by keeping them in the dark.

Whenever we have 'commercial divers' in the exhibits they tend to have the volunteer divers in there making sure they don't f&$k things up. In fact during a recent renovation of one of the exhibits we found ourselves in a quandary. Most of the 'commercial divers' had fewer than the required number of loged dives to even try out to become a volunteer diver. Let's talk about how the 'commercial divers' dive. They don't, they walk.

Sound to me like y'all don't know how to spec a job and hire a diver who is suited to the task.

There is a team out there where the least experienced team member is only the step only full cave certified.

That is meaningless in this context, the fact that you don't see

There have been commercial divers that have tried out and didn't make it, because they couldn't dive.

It is a fine environment for volunteers.

That ids not as decision that you are authorized or qualified to make.

There are two types of certification: External (eg. SSI) and Internal, where the organization sets the requirements and the training course.

Devise a course, a good course, provide a certificate (eg. Certified Virginia Aquarium Diver), and make some logo t-shirts. This provides an incentive. You could require retraining every couple of years.

Good Luck with your project!

As long as the course meets AAUS specification you'd be on the right path, a recreational vanity program called Certified Virginia Aquarium Diver or something like that solves nothing and creates even more liability, that would be truly foolish.

 

[garyfotodiver]

"As long as the course meets AAUS specification you'd be on the right path, a recreational vanity program called Certified Virginia Aquarium Diver or something like that solves nothing and creates even more liability, that would be truly foolish."

Many organizations do this with great success. For example, even though I know how to use a fork lift, and have done so with other employers, I do not (cannot) at my present employer because I have not taken and passed their Fork Lift Driver (FLD) course. I even have certificates from other FLD courses; it is not good enough. So, obviously, as a hook to keep volunteer divers, it is something to consider. My Stress & Rescue cert does NOT qualify me to be a professional Rescue Diver. So there are limits to any certification, external or internal.

As for liability, is anyone suggesting that an organization like the Virginia Aquarium does not have liability insurance for it's tank divers, volunteer or paid employee? I think that they, as would any responsible organization with a savvy CFO, have this.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm sure that they have insurance. I'm also sure that the size of the judgment that would result from the accidental death of a diver, given that the institution is operating outside of community accepted and government mandated standards would exceed the size of the policy.

 

[garyfotodiver]

I'm sure that they have insurance. I'm also sure that the size of the judgment that would result from the accidental death of a diver, given that the institution is operating outside of community accepted and government mandated standards would exceed the size of the policy.

Please, what "community standards" and what "government mandated standards"? Thank you.

There is risk in every human activity; there is also this lawsuit-happy country we live in. If one is unwilling to take any risk, one should not dive, or drive, or live...