Police Diver Drowns

[BigJetDriver]

Folks,

Whatever else may be true, or not true, about this situation, some facts are incontrovertible.

(1) We have tragically lost another of our family of "The Thin Blue Line". We, as a group, and society as a whole, are sadly diminished by that.

(2) The family's, and friends', lives have been devastated by the loss.

We need to focus on that. The rest can be left for another day.

My most sincere condolences to the family, and to this officer's friends and fellow officers.

 

[6Gill]

It is indeed tragic when people dive beyond their capabilities.

In Ontario, there exists specific diving regulations ( O.H.S.A. 629 - 94 ) defining what activities underwater constitute a "diving operation" & the minimum requirements needed to perform such operations. The Act defines diving operations as follows:

"diving operation" means work performed underwater by divers or work performed on the surface in support of divers, and includes underwater inspection, investigation, excavation, construction, alteration, repair or maintenance of equipment, machinery, structures or ships and the salvage of sunken property"

The Act goes on to stipulate the restrictions placed on the use of s.c.u.b.a. in diving operations, including:

Prohibitions on S.C.U.B.A. Use

36. (1) The diving supervisor for a diving operation shall ensure that S.C.U.B.A. is not used by,

(a) a diver working near or in an operating underwater intake;

(b) a diver working near or in a pipe, tunnel, duct or other confined space;

(c) a diver working at a water control structure;

(d) a diver using any power tool, hoisting device, explosive, burning equipment or welding equipment;

(e) a diver placing any materials underwater in a way that poses a risk to the health or safety of the diver;

(f) a diver operating at depths in excess of 100 feet; or

(g) a diver working in a diving operation to which Part XI applies.

(2) For the purposes of clauses (1) (a) and (b), a diver



The activities of the unfortunate police officer & his buddy certainly fall under the auspices of the Act & I am certain the Ministry will conduct a full investigation of the fatality.

These regulations were drafted in large part due to such tragedies. Most rec. divers have no experience/training in performing serious work underwater.

It is very unfortunate this reality must be reinforced with yet another needless death.

Regards,
D.S.D.

Although some of these rules & regulations make some sense to me, after reading them. I still wonder if they were not forced into being by a strong Union pressure by Commerical Divers Unions on the Canadian politians.

 

[pt40fathoms]

The court has concluded its findings, the following is the results. The Owner of Sunset Diving is not in the country, and is believed to be somewhere in Europe.




Diving outfitter fined in fatal accident
Sunset Diving, a Kenora diving outfitter, was convicted Thursday on three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s diving regulations following a fatal diving accident in May 2003.

By Miner and News Staff
Friday October 29, 2004

Sunset Diving, a Kenora diving outfitter, was convicted Thursday on three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s diving regulations following a fatal diving accident in May 2003.
In provincial offences court in Kenora Thursday, Justice of the Peace Joe Morrison levied fines totalling $10,000, plus a victim surcharge of 25 per cent -- $2,500 -- upon conviction of three of nine charges prosecuted by Stephen Mason from the Ministry of Labour.
Jeff Ferguson, an off-duty Kenora Police officer contracted for a commercial diving operation by Sunset Diving, died from a massive air embolism May 7, 2003. Ferguson, 30, dove to the bottom of Deception Bay in an effort to retrieve a truck, became entangled and was unable to free himself, a Ministry of Labour spokesman said.
The deceased was motionless and not emitting bubbles by the time a standby diver reached Ferguson and cut him loose, bringing him to the surface where resuscitation efforts failed.
Sunset Diving was found guilty on three counts of practices contrary to Section 271(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. On the first count, under Section 38-1(c) of the diving regulations contained in the act, Sunset Diving was found guilty of failing as the diving supervisor to ensure the worker had proper protective devices, which in this case were an emergency reserve or emergency bailout system (a small reserve tank). The company was fined $5,000.
The company was also convicted of the sixth count, under Section 18-1, that the standby diver who attempted the rescue dove without being attached to a live line. The fine was $1,000.
On the seventh count, Sunset Diving was found guilty under Section 12-4(b) of failing to ensure the standby diver was adequately trained for a dive of approximately 70 feet. The standby diver was a restricted diver under CSA standards (Z275.4) and therefore not qualified to dive operationally in depths exceeding 60 feet. Sunset Diving was fined $4,000.

 

[Kayla]

Thanks for the update. I'm just running across this, and its always a sad situation, but its even more sad when a thread that should have been a memorial thread gets turned into a "what went wrong, why didn't he do it right" type of thing. At least now his family has some kind of closure in the situation. They will be in my prayers this evening.

 

[wolf eel]

[Kurt_Yes it is a tragedy, but why was an experienced diver doing this recovery without safety equipment? No bail-out bottle/surface supplied air or safety divers? He should have known better, and now his family is paying the price. I don't want to sound like a jerk, but he darn well should have known better. He was a trained professional.]

Not to sound as another jerk but I agree.

That being said the only thing the dive shop did wrong was follow his dive plan.
I feel if you choose to do something then that is your choice.

I do with out a doubt feel for the family loss. But he did choose to do that dive for pay. There is another word for that but.

 

[pt40fathoms]

Not to sound as another jerk but I agree.

That being said the only thing the dive shop did wrong was follow his dive plan.
I feel if you choose to do something then that is your choice.

I do with out a doubt feel for the family loss. But he did choose to do that dive for pay. There is another word for that but.

The police Officer who died was not trained in salvage or commercial diving of any kind. He was in fact a student of Sunset Diving, and was only helping out the owner with this salvage, as was the "safety" diver, who at the time was a recently certified OW diver. This was an example of a "trust me" dive, where the victim trusted to owner of the shop to handle logistics. This was not the first time this has happened, only the first time someone has died.

I could list several examples of violations of training standards as well as standards of practice. To be blunt, every dive operation in this area was not surprised by the accident, given what we all know about this shop owner. Several complaints to training agencies and local authorities over the years, had resulted in simple wrist slapping at best. We did what we could to the extent of the law, but in the end a good man still died.

At least now he is permanently out of business, and can hurt no one else.

 

[wolf eel]

[pt40fathoms
I could list several examples of violations of training standards as well as standards of practice. To be blunt, every dive operation in this area was not surprised by the accident, given what we all know about this shop owner. Several complaints to training agencies and local authorities over the years, had resulted in simple wrist slapping at best. We did what we could to the extent of the law, but in the end a good man still died.

At least now he is permanently out of business, and can hurt no one else.]

I say everything with full respect of his family and himself.
I hope you do not feel i think he deserved it or was a dumb *** or anything.
Because you would be very wrong. We have a local dive shop that has almost cost 5 people there lives but they where new to diving and get this the Coast Guard support the dive shop ??????. And they should be shut down.

I am happy that the bad shop is closed now but that still does not mean that if you do something wrong based on your ego that others are at fault.
The problem I have is this. If I go out with adive shop and try to find a car and raise it and I die who was at fault the dive shop or me. I say me as this was not a commercial venture but for fun. I think this is simular? I could be wrong and have been. What we do on our own is our own fault that is all I was saying. It's kinda like climbing grade six ice when you can only truly climb grade four but you try and fail and with grade six ice when you fail you most likley will die. But whos at fault the climbing club or shop that I went climbing with that day?
Cheers
Derek

 

[rmediver2002]

As I have already stated I am sorry to see the death of a young man especially one who choose to serve his community, but I am glad to see the employer being held accountable for an unsafe operation and would expect the same if I was running an unsafe operation.

 

[Groundhog246]

The problem I have is this. If I go out with adive shop and try to find a car and raise it and I die who was at fault the dive shop or me. I say me as this was not a commercial venture but for fun. I think this is simular

Not similar. He went out as an employee of the dive shop and the shop was contracted to recover the car. This is commercial diving in the true meaning of the word and requires both the proper training and the proper equipment. If a shop wants to do salvage or other commercial work, then it's their responsibility to do it properly and within the law.
$10,000 doesn't sound like near enough, although I guess it must be weighed against the fact that neither diver was forced into the venture.

 

[wolf eel]

[Groundhog246Not similar. He went out as an employee of the dive shop and the shop was contracted to recover the car.]

[Cave Diver As stated from the original report:



The context of the report suggests to me that they were friends/dive buddies and that this was something they were doing on their own, rather than being a "sanctioned" recovery.]

Alright sorry about that I misunderstood what had happened. I thought he had gone out just on a spur of the moment to go out and retrieve the car. Like a fun recovery dive. Thats all. Again i ment no disrespect towards him.

Derek