Sydney diver death-inquest report released

[Noviz]

A sad story, and one which I, as a 54 year old XXXL diver, identify. My sympathies, of course, to the family.

When a diver drowns on the surface with his BC empty and 24 lbs still strapped to his hips, you have to wonder. And exactly how would a government requirement to log this in a book have changed it? Without knowing the diver or the instructor, I'm certain that the concept of "inflate the BC" was taught. Probably "drop the lead" also. Something occurred that prevented this action. Legislation would not have helped.

 

[nolatom]

Does anyone find it unusual that the apparent lack of an "okay" signal from this surfacing diver, low in the water, wasn't of concern to the boat operator, if he saw the diver surface, no signal, and then resubmerge?

When I've surfaced, whether on a drift dive, or to "scout out" the boat's location if I didn't find the anchor line, I've always given the hand-on-head sign before going back under, so the skipper will know I'm not a problem.

 

[almitywife]

.....wasn't of concern to the boat operator,......

:ignore: oh what i could say!

 

[jeckyll]

I think a number of recommendations made in the report would be more appropriate for actual 'workplace' environments. I.E. commercial divers, or divers that are being paid for their efforts, in which case clear guidelines seem warranted.

How different would the report have been if this had been a shore dive, but the other characteristics of the dive had been the same. I.e diving too deep, not forming clear buddy teams, lack of safety sausage (imagine current pulling the diver from the exit point), etc etc.

Relying on a log book to identify what a divers capibilities are seems to me to be the wrong approach, or soon we will in fact need the scuba police to sign off on each of our dives once they've inspected our remaining tank pressure and have download the dive computers profile (what if there isn't one?!).

I do believe that the report is a good reminder...

Darnold: Don't think that those efforts to regulate the industry are only elsewhere. After some recent events similar calls for regulation are underway locally.

 

[sea nmf]

Hmmm. What can we learn from this, in addition to the responsibilites of the other team members?

Why do I keep reading about drown divers with their weight belts still on? Maybe just dropping them in this case would have been the difference between life and death.

I am reminded of Catherine's story where she dropped her weights, and in her account, said "I probably didn't need to, though" (or something like that). She thought the situation through and decided on this course of action.

Weights are cheap and replaceable. DROP YOUR WEIGHTS!!!!

Of course there were other factors for which this diver was responsible. But the most simple, outside of not diving at all, would have been to drop the weights.

 

[Moose016]

I know Peter, he's a good guy and very knowledgeable and capable. We used to stop by the shop and get fills and advice where to do shore dives that day around Sydney. they were also the supporting shop of our club. I left just a few months before this happened, never heard about it until now.

 

[The Horn]

From reading the inquest this was just an accident on the part of the diver who died. Three person Buddy teams normally suck and I avoid them. the diver was enroute to the surface. The other two divers completed thier safety stop assuming the big guy was on the surface. He drowned on the surface??? No ditching weights and no inflation of BC...........Also he completed the deep section of the dive with no problem and was at the 15 foot safety stop, he drowned at a water depth he was trained for. Had he run into trouble at 100 feet that would be different. This person would have had problems on any dive it would seem.

Log book entries, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha what is the corner thinking (or not) Logging you have an air problem or the instructor logging it would mean zippo. Who reads log books? You could log anything to keep your true diving hidden............

Government has to learn to butt out of things that are beyond anyones control except your own. Austrailia and Canadian politics seem to be quite similar, "everyone is an idiot we must protect them from themselves"

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

my backup air supply(my buddy),

My buddy as my alternate air supply? No way!

I always carry a pony; from bitter experience (twice now), the chances are that when I need my alternate air supply, the guy who is carrying it for me will not be within easy reach. A buddy isn't an "alternate" air supply, s/he's a "possible" air supply and nothing more.

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

Government has to learn to butt out of things that are beyond anyones control except your own. Austrailia and Canadian politics seem to be quite similar, "everyone is an idiot we must protect them from themselves"

Seconded.

 

[haha49]

i always stick close too my buddy i know im going to run out of air faster then the mas im an air hog.. the lesson they are trying to put out is you should tel lyour buddy hey im an air hog so make sure your close to me when i need your air.. that size of bc sounds like it could use the whole tank i use xl bc and it uses 100 psi to fill it fully so i always make sure i have enoff air to get up and fill my bc i dont like swiming i rather float...