Commercial diver dead off Pearl Harbor

[DandyDon]

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/14715594/scuba-diver-drowns-at-pearl-harbor

PEARL HARBOR (HawaiiNewsNow) - A scuba diver who drowned in waters off Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam has been identified.

The Medical Examiner's Office has identified the man as 41-year-old Jeffrey Barbieto of Kaneohe.

Coast Guard rescue crews retrieved Barbieto Tuesday afternoon while he was performing a commercial dive operation for Hukilau Foods Inc.

The Coast Guard got Barbieto into a hyperbaric chamber on board its rescue boat.

Barbieto was transported to the Pali Momi Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Coast Guard Sector officials are investigating the incident.

 

[SnorkelLA]

Any info on what exactly CAUSED the incident?

 

[DandyDon]

Sounds like he was one of the best...?

Drowned diver praised as 'waterman's waterman' - Hawaii News - Staradvertiser.com

The state Department of Labor and the Coast Guard are investigating the death of a diver and off-duty Honolulu firefighter who drowned while working at a moi fish farm off Ewa Beach.

Jeffrey Barbieto, 41, was taking care of underwater fish cages about two miles offshore for Hukilau Foods when he was reported unresponsive at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Navy and Coast Guard responded, but Barbieto died that day at Pali Momi Medical Center.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office determined he drowned.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Jason Neubauer said investigators have recovered Barbieto's scuba gear as evidence and are interviewing people to determine the main contributing factors to his death.

The Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division is leading the joint investigation, Neubauer said.

Both the Coast Guard and the state Department of Labor said the investigation is the first for Hukilau Foods.

Hukilau raises moi in four diamond-shaped cages spread over about 28 acres of the ocean.

The cages — about 50 feet tall and 80 feet wide — are about 30 feet below the surface.

The company's divers clean, maintain and patch the cages as well as feed the fish, said company President Ryan Murashige.

He said the company is working closely with the Coast Guard to determine what happened, but couldn't comment on the incident because of the investigation.

Barbieto was a senior diver for Hukilau and one of two safety workers who created safety measures for the company, he said.

"Jeff's voice was very important" because of his experience with rescues, Murashige said. "He was very dedicated. He was a great guy."

He said the company has 10 employees.

"The entire Hukilau Foods ohana is deeply saddened by this tragedy," he said.

Barbieto worked part time at Hukilau and full time as a rescue specialist with the Fire Department.

A 21-year veteran, Barbieto had been assigned to Rescue 2 company for the past 10 years and helped create the department's Rescue Watercraft Program and Surface Water Rescue-Surf Certification Program.

"Jeff was also well-known and respected in the community as a superior waterman," said Fire Chief Kenneth Silva in a statement. "He participated in hundreds of ocean and mountain rescues and made a difference in many people's lives."

In addition to the two jobs, Barbieto had his own rescue company, Ku‘au Rescue, training rescue professionals in surface-water rescue techniques.

"One of the best, fearless," said friend Bryan Amona, who ran Ku‘au Rescue with Barbieto. "He was a lifeguard's lifeguard, a waterman's waterman."

He said Barbieto was a mentor who "wanted to share his knowledge," adding, "He was all about the water."

Amona said Barbieto loved adventure and working as a rescue specialist.

In 2000, Barbieto received a commendation from the Fire Department for jumping from a helicopter into the ocean to save two swimmers in rough surf. In 2009 the department again recognized him for rescuing two swimmers caught in strong currents while he was off duty.

Barbieto is survived by his wife, two teenage sons, one of whom is graduating from Saint Louis School on Saturday, and other family members.

"He was all about his kids, all about his family," Amona said. "No matter what, he took care of his kids."

 

[FuzzyNutz]

wow, that is very, very sad. It's quite a shame to lose such a hero.

 

[odblnt]

I had an interesting discussion the other day while taking some gear back to the LDS on the Marine Base on Oahu. A guy that knew people in the Fire Department was asking me how someone as experienced as Mr Barbieto could drown and could decompression have anything to do with it. Actually he started out by asking if it was true that every time you went below 30' you had to decompress. I explained that decompression was a matter of depth as well as time and gave some examples. I then told him that there were too many things that haven't been made public to speculate as to why he drowned (all the while thinking to myself OOA, equipment failure, medical condition?) and that it was truly a sad event.

(I tried to stay perfectly vague but correct misconceptions, since I was in the middle of the Rescue Diver course and we had just been talking about not speculating when doing official reports.)

 

[DandyDon]

From Fish-farming company firm found at fault in diver's death - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

An Ewa Beach fish-farming operation has been found in violation of 19 safety and health requirements regarding the May 24 diving fatality of one of its employees, the state occupational safety office said today.

Jeffrey Barbieto, 41, a diver for Hukilau Foods, died while maintaining underwater fish-cultivation cages for the company off Ewa Beach. Barbierto was also a Honolulu firefighter.

Grove Farm Fish & Poi LLC, which raises moi off Ewa Beach and does business as Hukilau Foods.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations' Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division completed its investigation of the incident, the department said today.

The division concluded that Grove Farm Fish & Poi LLC violated 19 safety and health requirements and proposed penalties totaling $50,050.

Hukilau Foods will have an opportunity to contest the citations and penalties, the state said.

 

[faster7581]

I wonder what the voilations were, and if they actually contributed to his death..

 

[DandyDon]

from State Completes Investigation of Diver Fatality: Proposed HIOSH Penalties Total $50,050 | Hawaii Reporter

HONOLULU, HAWAII — The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ (DLIR) Hawai‘i Occupational Safety and Health Division (HIOSH) has completed an investigation of the May 24, 2011 diving fatality that claimed the life of Jeffrey Barbieto, a 41-year old diver and Honolulu Fire Department firefighter.

Grove Farm Fish & Poi, LLC, dba Hukilau Food violated nineteen safety and health requirements, for which HIOSH has proposed penalties in the amount of $50,050. Hukilau Foods will have an opportunity to contest the citations and/or penalties.

“This tragedy was preventable,” said HIOSH Administrator Jennifer Shishido. “The lessons learned from past diving accidents have resulted in comprehensive protocols and regulations that, if implemented properly, would have prevented this fatality.”

“It is important to remember each and every workplace accident victim as a person, a family member and one of our Hawaii ohana. We want to work together with employers to help insure workplace safety—employers who are uncertain about their responsibilities should call for a free, confidential consultation with HIOSH’s Consultation and Training Branch,” said DLIR Director Dwight Takamine.

The investigation found that Grove Farm Fish & Poi, LLC failed to provide required equipment as well as adequate procedures and protocols that may have been able to prevent the fatality.

Citations are being issued to Grove Farm Fish & Poi, LLC for:

1. Failure to prohibit a dive team member from diving during the period that the diver was sufficiently impaired as to adversely affect his/her safety and health.

2. Failure to develop and maintain a safety practices manual, which shall be made available at the dive location to each dive team member.

3. Failure to inquire into the dive team member’s current state of physical fitness prior to each assignment and failure to indicate to each dive team member the procedure for reporting physical problems or adverse physiological effects during and after the dive.

4. Failure to provide a means for exiting the water that extends below the water surface and a means for assisting an injured diver from the water.

5. Failure to provide decompression, repetitive, and no-decompression tables at the dive site.

6. Failure to maintain a depth-time profile, including when appropriate, any breathing gas changes for each diver during the dive including decompression.

7. Failure to check the physical condition of the diver after each dive, including instructing the diver to report any physical problems or adverse physiological effects as well as the location of a decompression chamber which is ready for use.

8. Failure to provide a decompression chamber capable of recompressing the diver at the surface to a minimum of 165 fsw (6 ATA) at the dive location.

9. Failure to limit SCUBA diving at depths deeper than 130 fsw.

10. Failure to limit SCUBA diving at depths deeper than 100 fsw, or outside the no-decompression limits, where no decompression chamber was ready for use.

11. Failure to provide a clean standby diver to assist a diver in the water at any time during the diving operation.

 

[JonKranhouse]

Eight of the 19 citations were omitted from the quote above...

12. Failure to require a diver to be accompanied by another diver (buddy system), maintaining continuous visual contact during the diving operations, or alternatively, line tending from the surface.

13. Failure to provide a diver-carried reserve breathing gas supply for each diver consisting of a manual reserve (J valve) or an independent reserve cylinder.

14. Failure to provide every diver with a buoyancy compensator device, aka BCD and require the diver to use the BCD for SCUBA diving.

15. Failure to provide and maintain a list of emergency contact numbers for an operational decompression chamber, accessible hospitals, available physicians, available means of transportation and the nearest U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at the dive location.

16. Failure to record and maintain accurate dive logs as required by the HIOSH Standards.

17. Failure to record and maintain depth-time and breathing gas profiles, decompression table designation, and elapsed time since last pressure exposure if less than 24 hours or repetitive dive designation for each dive outside the no-decompression limits, deeper than 100 fsw.

18. Failure to maintain records for each dive in which decompression sickness was suspected or symptoms were evident.

19. Failure to maintain records for each equipment modification, repair, test, calibration or maintenance service.
Submitted by Bill Kunstman with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

 

[Jax]

Do we know a cause of death?