Never leave a diver behind

[peterbj7]

Peter, Except for when things like what happened in S.Ca (another popular post here the last few days) where apparently the 2 dive buddies accounted for the missing guy. Joe hears his budy Mikes name and says Here, evidence it doesn't work

Yes. It's necessary for the staff to get to know the divers and personally identify them as on board, not just conduct a roll call. If a roll call is used (I don't like them for the reason you gave) it needs to be conducted intelligently by a responsible member of the crew. Or if there is a coherent dive group on the boat, the group leader may be sufficiently responsible to report for all members of his group.

 

[Thalassamania]

No one system is going to work, one in a thousand means at least one diver left every three years. You must have redundant layers to lower the probability of incidents.

 

[Rick Murchison]

No one system is going to work

Concur.
Rick

 

[Kamchatka]

Worst case possible. They'd once left a male & female couple of attorneys behind on a night dive, didn't notice anything wrong when there were bags still on the boat later as in the Open Water movie, and the office phoned the lawyers office in the morning to complain for not returning the rental gear. :11: The couple spent the night on Molasses reef buoy. I dived with that Op after that once; they were excellent about manifest security afterwards but suffered still until their land was bought for development I think.

I think the couple actually spent the night on the Molasses tower, not a buoy. And the token system, similar to the DAN system pictured elsewhere in this thread, was incorporated subsequent to the incident. The two or so times I went out with Aqua-nuts in '04 and '05 had full boats. The crew seemed pretty diligent about making the token system work as desired.

 

[Web Monkey]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Monkey
We attach DAN tokens to the divers and collect them when they return. This is in addition to a sign-in/out sheet that records name, signature, time and pressure.

Terry

I wish we could get all Ops to do that much.

We do this on one of the Finger Lakes, and the boat always anchors near shore. Even if someone was "abandoned", all they would need to do is walk to shore and bang on someone's door and use the phone.

Oddly enough, the times I've been on a boat with some moron counting "2 4 6 7 9 10 11 ... looks good, let's go" has always been on the ocean, where getting left behind is a real problem.

Go figure.

Terry

 

[peterbj7]

No one system is going to work

If that system involves identifying each individual person and checking them against a list then it will.

 

[ItsBruce]

That sounds so easy... just count heads. But how do you "visually verify" everyone's presence? Joe...; Sally jumps in to take a pee after she's been counted and after you're back in the wheel house... etc...
Rick

Without meaning to sound crass, but when someone jumps back in, they should expect to be left behind. And, as far as the boat goes, how do you account for situations in which someone jumps in while underway and is not noticed?

 

[Lead_carrier]

That sounds so easy... just count heads. But how do you "visually verify" everyone's presence? Joe Doe moves while you're checking the head for the one you're short, who isn't in the head but you count Joe twice 'cause he's changed shirts & looks like a different guy in a different place since the first time you counted him; Sally jumps in to take a pee after she's been counted and after you're back in the wheel house... etc...
Rick

there was a dive operation in Key Largo that left a couple of divers behind one day. They had to redo their accounting and came up with what I thought was an excellent system. Everyone was issued a dive tag with a number and your name was written on a clipboard beside that number. After the first dive, roll call and you had to answer for yourself. After the second dive, only the individual issued the dive tag could turn it in to the dm during roll call. The boat didn't leave the site until you actually handed the dm your tag. Spouse couldn't turn it in, buddy couldn't, only you. Foolproof, probably not. After all, we're divers. We can screw up a lead weight.

 

[ItsBruce]

What about requiring each diver to turn in a completed worksheet, based on the dive tables, showing his or her pressure group after the dive, before leaving the site? Since no one likes doing the tables, no one would do it twice and screw up the count. And, it would be useful in detecting possible deco issues.

 

[DandyDon]

I think the couple actually spent the night on the Molasses tower, not a buoy. And the token system, similar to the DAN system pictured elsewhere in this thread, was incorporated subsequent to the incident. The two or so times I went out with Aqua-nuts in '04 and '05 had full boats. The crew seemed pretty diligent about making the token system work as desired.

Yep, it is a tower - not a buoy. Thanks.

there was a dive operation in Key Largo that left a couple of divers behind one day. They had to redo their accounting and came up with what I thought was an excellent system. Everyone was issued a dive tag with a number and your name was written on a clipboard beside that number. After the first dive, roll call and you had to answer for yourself. After the second dive, only the individual issued the dive tag could turn it in to the dm during roll call. The boat didn't leave the site until you actually handed the dm your tag. Spouse couldn't turn it in, buddy couldn't, only you. Foolproof, probably not. After all, we're divers. We can screw up a lead weight.

I suppose you're referencing the same incident, and the Op adopting the DAN tag system. I still wonder why that is not used more in the 4 years it's been offered?

DAN Divers Alert Network : No Fear: DAN Addresses Diver Strandings and Offers Help
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What about requiring each diver to turn in a completed worksheet, based on the dive tables, showing his or her pressure group after the dive, before leaving the site? Since no one likes doing the tables, no one would do it twice and screw up the count. And, it would be useful in detecting possible deco issues.

:sad: