Would you stay away from a dive shop that had an accident?

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

The OPs' question does not provide enough information for me to answer.

However, if an accident happened in the litigious USA, the lawyers would have immediately told them to not say a word to anyone thereby cutting off their ability to defend their actions to the public.

 

[Catito]

For example, a diver is missing during a drift diving, you only know the name of the dive shop but do not know the details of the accident. The dive shop did not explain the cause of the accident and keep silent. Will you avoid to dive with them?

Depends and yes. I dove with an operation and found them very reckless. Swore I’d never dive with them again. Then, over three years, two deaths. My instincts were right.

 

[berndo]

However, if an accident happened in the litigious USA, the lawyers would have immediately told them to not say a word to anyone thereby cutting off their ability to defend their actions to the public.

Even without the lawyers, no shop wants to talk about how and when the last customer of theirs had a fatal accidents. After all, dive shops are businesses... this is the last thing you wanna talk about with a (new) customer.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

this is the last thing you wanna talk about with a (new) customer.

Unless they are asked about it. Then they should be willing to explain themselves and defend themselves if there is a defense.

 

[MacDuyver]

Unless they are asked about it. Then they should be willing to explain themselves and defend themselves if there is a defense.

That depends on whether the case is still ongoing. Usually a lawyer will tell you to clam up about stuff until all the legal proceedings are complete.

If this case is out of litigation, they ought to be up for discussing it.

 

[berndo]

Unless they are asked about it. Then they should be willing to explain themselves and defend themselves if there is a defense.

In theory, agree, but in my experience it's not something that happens in real life. Often, they don't really know what happened either.
One shop I worked for had a guy die on a guided dive... weeks later it came out he had been a dialysis patient who had decided to forgo treatment and go on vacation instead. In another case at the same shop, a group got lost and drifted on the open ocean with no land in sight for 10 hours or so due to a miscommunication between a guide and the crew. Nobody died but it was a nightmare obviously.
Neither case was talked about with customers... there is no upside in doing this, especially with newer divers. Even without the US lawyers, shops on the US would try to avoid talking about stuff like this.

 

[arew+4]

I'm not doing drift dives with an operator who has a habit (happens more than once a decade) of losing divers. It's not going to be the operators fault 90% of the time, but it might be a sign they do not "screen" the clientele and tailor the trip to their level or failed to asses the conditions correctly..

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

in my experience it's not something that happens in real life

In my personal experience it absolutely has happened.
And as @MacDuyver stated if the legal wrangling is over there should be no reason for them to talk. These cases generally go on for YEARS.

 

[Ukmc]

As many have said - the cause of the prior incident(s) would play a role on whether I would shy away from the shop.
Bad air fill/ CO poisoning, losing diver(s), not having safety equipment or following safety protocols would want me to know how the shop changed the practices and if there are satisfactory improvement/changes have been put forth, then I may continue with them.
I dove once with the shop that was on the “PADI kicked out” list from the years back. I did not know it at the time, but this was a very safety-oriented operation (I suspect changes were implemented) and I would dive with them again…

 

[formernuke]

What I told you, you wont believe... diving is not a high risk sport and most likey there wont be report that's helpful in any way. They'll either find that the victim drowned or had a medical event and drowned. And that's only if a repoprt will be published.

Diving is very much a high risk sport. We are land mammals breathing underwater using technology.

To answer the OP it depends on circumstances.