Question regarding gear and accidents?

[tobad78]

I just finished Stress & Rescue yesterday. Near the end the instructor stated that when a accident occurs the state, I assume water patrol or local police, would immediatley take the gear of a diver. Not to touch the gear and treat it as a crime scene.

I have no problems with this and just though Okay. (I work in security)

But to my surprise he stated the gear then went to my LDS for inspection.
Is this a standard procedure?
Why does the LDS have anything to do with it?
I couldn't imagine your property be handed over to the LDS unless the investigating agency requested this (because of lack of dive knowledge) or the family.

I dive mostly through 1 shop but get serviced from another.


After all of this we get the gear back.

 

[Rick Murchison]

But to my surprise he stated the gear then went to my LDS for inspection. Is this a standard procedure?
Why does the LDS have anything to do with it?

This is place dependent. The investigating authority wants to know if the gear is in good working order and if there's anything about it that can shed some light on what happened in the mishap. So they are going to "turn it over" to the folks available who are best qualified to help them answer those questions. In most places that means a local dive shop.
Property is returned to its owner (or the owner's heirs) after the investigation is complete.
Rick

 

[MikeFerrara]

Who knows how long it will sit or how it will be handled before an official inspection? Equipment can also be damaged in handling while getting the victem out of the water. One source of information is a book called "the law and dive professional". As an instructor...given the chance I would inspect the equipment myself to see if it's functionaing before any one takes it away.

 

[Bill51]

If a diver is injured, many times they’ll keep his dive computer with him and send it off to the hospital so they can better understand what his profile might have been and how much diving he had been doing prior to the accident. DAN will work with a hospital or police to decipher what they can about the dive from the computer’s history.

Many dive shops, such as one south of you in Nixa, have police officers who work part time at the shop so those are the shops the authorities will usually ask to look at the equipment to determine if negligence or foul play may have been involved. They want a shop where the staff is familiar with chain and control of evidence, is understood, and practiced.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Who knows how long it will sit or how it will be handled before an official inspection? Equipment can also be damaged in handling while getting the victem out of the water. One source of information is a book called "the law and dive professional". As an instructor...given the chance I would inspect the equipment myself to see if it's functionaing before any one takes it away.

So would I.
But LDS's in general I think get a bad rap here. I can only speak of the ones I know, but I have confidence all those would act responsibly. At the shop where I "work" for example, one of our DiveCons (DM/AI) is a career cop, and he'd be in charge of insuring chain-of-custody and inspection integrity. Both Smedley and I are familiar with safety investigations and would also insure proper handling. No sweat.
Rick

 

[tobad78]

Thanks Guys,

I just thought it was strange they would hand over the gear to the samme person that serviced them, not in mine but in most cases.

This would make it very easy for them to cover up anything.

Hopefully I'll never have to worry about this though.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Who knows how long it will sit or how it will be handled before an official inspection? Equipment can also be damaged in handling while getting the victem out of the water. One source of information is a book called "the law and dive professional". As an instructor...given the chance I would inspect the equipment myself to see if it's functionaing before any one takes it away.

Mike, I can understand what you're saying and the reasoning behind it. At the same time, according to what capacity you're working in, it can also open up a whole new can of worms that you may not want to be involved with. As an instructor, I'd be very curious as to what actually happened to the gear, if anything, especially if it is one of my charges. But by doing that, if I am sued the I'm sure any plantiffs attorney could have a field day with the fact I was the first person to "check" the gear. If I'm just a paying diver on a boat, I'll make every effort to make sure the equipment is properly secured and not messed with, tinkered with or checked for problems. It is definitely a double edged sword.

I just thought it was strange they would hand over the gear to the samme person that serviced them, not in mine but in most cases.

This would make it very easy for them to cover up anything. .

Normally, it would be handed over to a different LDS, not the one that had serviced or rented it.