Good question, what prompted it. I was just thinking about some recent threads. One concerning OW divers going below 60'. Certain Dive Ops supporting this if the OW diver is accompanied by a DM. But going deeper than 60 gets into an official deep dive, and DMs aren't allowed to teach that--it is beyond the certified diver's training. In fact, I believe it was an instructor who said this should not occur and these dive ops and DMs are in the wrong. I have also recently been trying to be very picky about any advice I may give on SB, as now being a DM I have more responsibilities, both morally and legally. A recent post on this thread pointed out that a new diver may experience his first night dive, or go below 60' for the first time while diving with a mentor---Now if a dive pro suggested that on SB (or anywhere), would that not be in some way an agency violation? I really didn't start the thread for a discussion on the benefits of mentoring--I think we all know it's value. Just curious about this possible "grey" area with pros advising this. If a DM should not be taking an OW diver on a charter below 60', should any dive pro be advising someone to seek an experienced diver (who may not even be a pro) as a mentor to do the very same thing? Obviously advice such as improving one's weighting/trim, finning, gas consumption, buddying techniques, etc. are not areas I'm talking about. Then again, a mentor COULD possibly introduce someone to cave or tech. diving. And a dive pro told the OW diver to find a mentor.
I see.
There are two issues at hand here. First is what the agency will do if you go diving with someone and push past the boundaries of their training outside the context of an official agency programme. The answer is "nothing". You haven't done anything to violate their rules because their rules weren't being applied to the dive in question.
The other issue is an issue of legal liability in the even that something happens during such a a dive.
In order to be nailed to the cross for liability if an accident happens then the courts will have to do three things: (1) show that you had a responsibility to do (or not do) certain things. That's called a duty of care, (2) show that that you deliberately didn't do what you were supposed to do (an act of negligence) and (3) show that any damages, for example, someone having an accident, is a direct result of #2. The chances that even a good lawyer could show a direct causal relationship between #2 and #3 for something you said on the internet to a stranger is pretty slim, tbh, so I wouldn't worry *too* much about that. Just don't suggest idiotic things (ie. use your common sense), don't present opinions as if they were facts, etc... which, in your case, is what you do anyway. This doesn't just apply to dive pro's by the way.
That said, if you're diving with someone and you take them outside the boundaries of their training and something happens, then they have a case. One of the functions of an agency is specifically to create a legal buffer for instructors if accidents happen during training, since the nature of a training dive is to do something they haven't done before. Standards create a definition for the duty of care and following standards shows that your adhered to your duty of care in the event of a liability case.
There's a third issue that sometimes crops up when an accident happens and that's the issue of whether or not what you did constitutes such a big breach of conduct that an actual crime has been committed (manslaughter, for example). To be honest I don't know much about how that's approached in relation to diving accidents. I just know that it can happen.
So that's some context for you to get a grip on it. So your question about if suggesting breaking new ground with a mentor could get you in trouble or not? I seriously doubt it. Should you do "ground breaking" dives with your dive buddies outside the context of an agency programme? If you do, then you won't have any protection from standards if something awful happens so I would say you would be taking a risk. Does that apply more so to DMs and instructors than it does to the average diver? I would think most lawyers would argue "yes" that as a "pro" you should know better. Would you lose your status as a DM if you had such an accident? No.
Honestly, if you just use your common sense then you don't need to run around second-guessing yourself at every moment. I've been a pro for quite a while and I've only ever "avoided" one dive that I thought would get my butt in a sling if it went wrong. I'm a certified ice diver through IANTD and a PADI instructor and a few years ago some guys with no ice training invited me to join them to go ice diving. I would have been the only "pro" there and the only diver with ice training. I declined and firmly advised them to seek a qualified ice instructor to accompany them. I would have loved to have done the dive and my presence probably would have made things safer for them than my absence but I couldn't accept the liability risk. It's the only time I can remember not going diving because I was worried about being crucified if an accident happened.
R..