First a quick summary of the accurate points already made by several posters:
PADI has no authority whatsoever to set RULES for the dives done by certified divers. They do have recommendations, and those recommendations are as described by Diver0001. The people who do have authority to set RULES are local governments and the people who run the dive operations through which divers get into the water. Many times, those governments and operators set rules that are consistent with common agency recommendations.
Now for a description of how that can play out in the real world.
I was on an Australian liveaboard a little over a year ago, and the director of diving for the trip gave a pre-trip talk on diving rules. In one rule that restricted how we could dive, he told us they had no choice but to make that restriction because it was a PADI rule. All of the diving employees were in attendance, all of whom were PADI instructors who should have known what he was saying was not true. I did not want to make a scene, so I spoke to him privately to ask why he had said that. He at first claimed he had said nothing wrong, but when it became clear I knew what I was talking about, he admitted that the rule was company policy, not a PADI rule. The reason for it was obvious. They wanted to make sure our dives were ultra, ultra safe so that they did not have a remote possibility of dealing with a DCS case while out on the Great barrier Reef.
Near the end of the trip, he announced the schedule that included our low level flight back to our starting point. He said we could not dive for 24 hours before that time "because of PADI rules." Of course, PADI's recommendation for flying after the diving we were doing is 18 hours, not 24, and every one of the PADI instructors listening to his speech should have known that. They obviously wanted to have some additional time to pack up at the end of the trip and did not want us doing the last possible dive. I assume that the playing it ultra, ultra safe before flying concept may have been in effect as well. They needed to be able to say it was not their fault that we could not do that last dive.
I am sure things like this happen regularly. Many, many thousands of people around the world have been told that the dive operator limiting their dives has no choice because of PADI rules, when in reality they are following their own rules and possibly the dictates of their insurance carrier. It is better for them to be able to pass the buck for an unpopular policy to someone outside of their control.
PADI has no authority whatsoever to set RULES for the dives done by certified divers. They do have recommendations, and those recommendations are as described by Diver0001. The people who do have authority to set RULES are local governments and the people who run the dive operations through which divers get into the water. Many times, those governments and operators set rules that are consistent with common agency recommendations.
Now for a description of how that can play out in the real world.
I was on an Australian liveaboard a little over a year ago, and the director of diving for the trip gave a pre-trip talk on diving rules. In one rule that restricted how we could dive, he told us they had no choice but to make that restriction because it was a PADI rule. All of the diving employees were in attendance, all of whom were PADI instructors who should have known what he was saying was not true. I did not want to make a scene, so I spoke to him privately to ask why he had said that. He at first claimed he had said nothing wrong, but when it became clear I knew what I was talking about, he admitted that the rule was company policy, not a PADI rule. The reason for it was obvious. They wanted to make sure our dives were ultra, ultra safe so that they did not have a remote possibility of dealing with a DCS case while out on the Great barrier Reef.
Near the end of the trip, he announced the schedule that included our low level flight back to our starting point. He said we could not dive for 24 hours before that time "because of PADI rules." Of course, PADI's recommendation for flying after the diving we were doing is 18 hours, not 24, and every one of the PADI instructors listening to his speech should have known that. They obviously wanted to have some additional time to pack up at the end of the trip and did not want us doing the last possible dive. I assume that the playing it ultra, ultra safe before flying concept may have been in effect as well. They needed to be able to say it was not their fault that we could not do that last dive.
I am sure things like this happen regularly. Many, many thousands of people around the world have been told that the dive operator limiting their dives has no choice because of PADI rules, when in reality they are following their own rules and possibly the dictates of their insurance carrier. It is better for them to be able to pass the buck for an unpopular policy to someone outside of their control.
