Should DMs worry about getting sued?

[Peter Guy]

How many times does this have to be written? One more time I guess:

IN Common Law Countries (those whose legal systems derived from England) general tort law is the norm.

Yes, you can be sued for just about anything -- but as a practical matter lawsuits generally occur only when something bad has happened. So, again, as a practical matter, your chance of getting sued is pretty darn small since there really aren't many bad diving incidents.

IN THEORY to be liable for an incident:

a. There must be an incident;
b. There must be damages resulting from that incident;
c. You must have a duty of care towards the plaintiff;
d. You must have violated that duty of care; AND
e. The violation of that duty of care is a cause (the proximate cause) of the incident.

IF you can "break the chain" at any point, there is no liability.

If you, DM, Instructor, BackFlip Specialty Instructor or just a poor brand new Open Water Diver are lucky enough to meet those five criterion, YES, you will be liable.

What is the duty of care? I don't know.

Is it likely a DM will have a "higher" duty of care as a result of the training and experience? Probably.

Just because you are on the boat, do you have a duty of care to others? Unlikely.

BUT, IF you are "buddied up" on the boat, you may well have the duty of care to be "a good buddy" as described and taught by the agency that certified you. If you violate that duty of care and as a result of that violation, your buddy is injured, you may well then be liable.

It has nothing to do with being a DM per se -- it has to do with your overall training and experience.

For example, although I'm an instructor (and thus a "trained professional") I've also had a lot of other training and experience -- all of which is relevant to the duty of care I must provide to my buddy -- and which, quite frankly, I DO PROVIDE to my buddy. Thus if I had an insta-buddy I would be expected to dive within my experience and training and provide good buddy support.

And this, BTW, is one reason diving with insta-buddies is a bit nerve wracking for me.

I really need to copy this and save it so that I can just paste it the next time this question is raise.

 

[Peter Guy]

Off topic:

Dive Master can be a fantastic course and can make you a better diver. I don't think anyone will really debate that.

I'll certainly debate that! My experience is that the typical DM course has almost nothing to do with the skills to become "a better diver." To the contrary, it has to do with skills necessary to lead dives and assist instructors. If you want to become a better diver, take classes that actually work on diving skills.

 

[Scared Silly]

In order to be an Active DM, you need to be current with your agency and have current insurance.

The former is correct the later is not, insurance is not always required ... though it is best to have some insurance coverage when actively acting as DM. Where the insurance comes from is another discussion.

 

[H2O 70]

Off topic:


I'll certainly debate that! My experience is that the typical DM course has almost nothing to do with the skills to become "a better diver." To the contrary, it has to do with skills necessary to lead dives and assist instructors. If you want to become a better diver, take classes that actually work on diving skills.

I guess you can debate it.

Part of DM was learning how to lead dives and assist instructors, but there is a huge component about diving physics and diving physiology.

You have to be able to do all the skills at a demonstration level quality. You can't do that unless you already have the basics mastered.

Working with students you're skills have to be spot on or you're not going to be able to really help them.

You have to be a rescue diver. You have to have your first aid and cpr.

All this makes you a better diver.

 

[H2O 70]

Where the insurance comes from is another discussion.

Alright, fair point.

 

[Peter Guy]

The benefits of a DM program are another topic so I'll end this hi-jack.

 

[dhuskins]

I understand the points people have made. Specially that there is responsibility that comes with being a professional. But the specific situation that I am asking about is if a DM is doing vacation dives. He is not working, not leading, not assisting just doing a pleasure dive with a group in which one person gets into an accident. Does the situation present significant risk for a lawsuit?

I am a DM and have professional liability insurance. (I am not a lawyer and am not giving you legal advice.)

I say: don't worry about "increased risk". If you are going to be in a position where a suit is going to happen, then it's going to happen whether you're a DM or not. Being a DM (as opposed to an ordinary diver with tons of diving experience) may make you a slightly better target. They would have to show that you were working in a capacity of a DM or that you had awareness of the situation and was negligent. I don't work on my vacation dives and make sure the boat has its own DM and captain.

On the other hand, my DM training and subsequent helping with classes has made me a significantly better diver. It is worth the training.

 

[rstofer]

I understand the points people have made. Specially that there is responsibility that comes with being a professional. But the specific situation that I am asking about is if a DM is doing vacation dives. He is not working, not leading, not assisting just doing a pleasure dive with a group in which one person gets into an accident. Does the situation present significant risk for a lawsuit?

It might also come down to whether your insta-buddy was expecting a certain level of care based on the fact that it became known that you were a DM.

For example, you show your DM card to the boat operator. The operator pairs you will a 'brand new diver' and tells them "Don't worry about this deep dive, he's a DM. He'll take care of you!". You might not even be aware that the 'brand new diver' has increased expectations based on a conversation you didn't even overhear.

So, show your AOW card, don't mention being a DM and have fun! And carry insurance anyway...

Or ask yourself: "Why do I want to be a DM?". There are far better diver training programs that will produce more benefit for you. Any of the technical courses or GUE Fundamentals will be more useful - to you.

Unless you ultimately want to become an instructor or assist an instructor, why bother with DM?

Richard

 

[boulderjohn]

For example, you show your DM card to the boat operator. The operator pairs you will a 'brand new diver' and tells them "Don't worry about this deep dive, he's a DM. He'll take care of you!". You might not even be aware that the 'brand new diver' has increased expectations based on a conversation you didn't even overhear.

So, show your AOW card, don't mention being a DM and have fun! And carry insurance anyway...

This argument comes up frequently, and I really don't understand it.

My wife is a non-diver, so when we go on vacations, insta-buddies are the norm for me. I can't estimate how many I have had.

When I go on these vacations, I always show my instructor card. I have never come close to being asked to take care of a new diver in any way. The opposite, on the other hand, is very much the norm.

• If they go out of their way to match me up with an individual, it has always been with the most skilled available.
• If they are forming groups, I will always be placed in the most experienced group.
• If a special trip is available for advanced divers, they will be sure to give me a chance to get involved.

On my last trip (Hawaii), I ended up on a large boat that had all the divers divided into three groups with three different DMs. Our group got the apprentice DM who actually had fewer dives than any of the customers in our group, and he just essentially dived with us as a matter of formality, letting us do what we wanted. We had a great and very long dive. If I had shown a lesser card, I would have been placed with one of the other groups, all of whom were real beginners, doing a short, carefully led dive.

On these trips I usually end up having very pleasant collegial chats with the instructors and DMs who work for the operator.

Remember, a dive operator wants you to enjoy yourself, come back, and recommend the operation to others. It's really bad business to tick off a customer who has the potential to come back and send extra business by recommending the operator to others.

The only time I ever did any work for an operator was when I saw they had a need for another professional, and I volunteered to help. I was compensated appropriately. I have had nothing but benefits from showing a pro card so far, and I can't imagine giving up those benefits because of a fear that some unthinking, foolish operator would want to permanently lose my business by giving me an unsatisfactory dive.