TRAINING
Rules, Standards & Liability for your Staff and Company – by Al Hornsby, owner, Al Hornsby Productions, Singapore Al is regarded as one of the industry’s most experienced risk management litigation executives.
It’s not unusual in the dive industry to hear questions about our common habit of rule-making. And, to some extent, we are perhaps somewhat more developed in this than many other sports, even sports that also carry elements of risk.
example – the common, standard practice that introductory scuba participants remove all their gear at the end of a dive. While it may sound like mere common sense, the reality is that this particular ‘rule’ (standard) operates at several levels, the obvious first ones being for participants’ comfort and safety – once the dive is done, we don’t want them waddling around (perhaps still in their fins) with weights and a cylinder still strapped on, with the danger of them losing their balance, falling, etc. There is also the inherent upside of their devel-
However, the issue is often related to the old question, “Well, what’s the worst that could happen?” While lots of sports and recreational activities have risks that could lead to injuries,
most of them don’t typically have such small lines between just fine; potential injury; and potential fatality. The general response to this reality has been the develop- ment of excellent guidelines
oping a bit more knowledge and practice in handling their gear in a safe manner. And, when this is oc- curring on a boat, the ante goes up – they could also easily fall on someone else, as well.
When such standards development occurs in diving, how- ever, there is also sometimes that element of “what’s the worst that could happen?” that adds to the importance. Well, the worst that has happened can answer this rather di- rectly. At the end of an introductory scuba dive off a small boat, one of the participants, a young lady, was allowed (or maybe it was not noticed by the instructor?) to keep her weight belt on as she began to cross the channel and head back toward the resort. The group, happy and thrilled at their first dive and sitting on the rails, was talking about how cool it all was… then, the boat hit a small wave, the lady fell back- wards into the water, quickly sinking out of sight - never to be found or seen again.
and training. However, we do often hear complaints that we may be overly involved in such rule-making (“standards”) and related enforcement. That said, if we look at diving and the rule-making it includes, I don’t believe we typically view our- selves as control freaks, but more likely responsible folks who are adequately cognizant of the sometimes narrow spaces be- tween safe practices and the potential for something going very wrong. I’d also suggest that a great many (most?) of our standard- ized safety practices and techniques came about in direct re- sponse to things that actually happened or things that had/have the potential for increased risks or dangers to our- selves, our students, or to our customers, day-to-day. In diving, we collectively do a good job of investigating ac- cidents and recognizing when a rule (a “standard”) could likely reduce the risks of the event happening again. Most of these standards are thus actually fairly simple logic and direct re- sponses to actual occurrences, or likelihoods. Let’s look at an
So, what’s the worst that could happen, even when involving such a simple, common standard regarding removing all equipment at the end of an introductory dive? The reality was pretty hor- rible, and so, so unnecessary.
email Al
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