Why are certifications valid forever?

[nimoh]

You notice that we don't make vehicle drivers have ongoing education or proof of driving hours.

Since there are no scuba police going around giving citations to bad divers, the driving analogy doesn't work all that great.

 

[iluvtheocean]

I dove on two boats this week for the first time. I was asked when my last dive was by both ops. One of them had the question on the release waiver. Neither asked me for my c-card which was surprising, but I did have to write my Padi number on the release.

Sure, this information could be falsified... Not sure why I'd do that.

i've had that happen around here as well --- did you book it yourself or thru a shop? how deep?

 

[drrich2]

I wish the answers to the main thread could be summarized as...

Because we're adults.

In today's U.S. Culture I guess that's a wild fantasy.

 

[Hank49]

I don't know about open water certs but I think instructors should show some proof of continued teaching or continued diving.
But I think….I haven't checked for years…..that all I have to do is resume paying PADI and I can resume teaching, even though I haven't looked at an instructor manual for over 10 years. You could say I'm a little out of practice in the teaching area. I don't think I'd kill anyone but I honestly feel I need to brush up a bit before taking on any open water student.

 

[TMHeimer]

Everywhere I know in America teachers are required to participate in some sort of learning every so many years in order to renew their certifications or licenses, and they can be revoked. Both my teaching license and my principal license expired long ago, and if I wanted to go back into either job, I would have to go through some significant hoops.

That is, of course, controlled by the government, with tons of funding in place to control it. Even so, in Colorado getting a teaching license confirmed can take 9 months because of the huge workload and the lack of personnel to take care of it all. PADI issues approximately 900,000 certifications a year world wide. Can you imagine what they would need to do to monitor it all? Where would that money come from? It would come from fees paid by the divers, of course. Now, can you imagine the howls of protest from people screaming about money grabs if they were to require people to go back to their instructors and get recertified every few years?

Interesting. I don't believe a teacher has to take any training to renew the cert. anywhere in Canada. Just inservices. Is there a charge as well to renew in some states? Obviously having to renew a PADI OW is impractical for the reason you cite, plus logistics.

---------- Post added June 12th, 2014 at 03:40 PM ----------

I don't know about open water certs but I think instructors should show some proof of continued teaching or continued diving.
But I think….I haven't checked for years…..that all I have to do is resume paying PADI and I can resume teaching, even though I haven't looked at an instructor manual for over 10 years. You could say I'm a little out of practice in the teaching area. I don't think I'd kill anyone but I honestly feel I need to brush up a bit before taking on any open water student.

Agree. But I believe there is something in place. If an instructor (or DM) becomes inactive (thus not renewing PADI membership--why pay for it?) he/she has to take some sort of refresher to start teaching again. I believe it also has to do with how long you are away from teaching. If the instructor is teaching all along they are also diving regularly anyway.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Are there any countries in which there is a legal requirement of having a license to dive?

 

[TMHeimer]

Drivers licenses are issued by states in the US so there are 50 constantly changing requirements. Periodically taking a test is probably a good idea since they add new traffic laws at mind-boggling rates. I had a neighbor who had to take the written test recently so it is probably 75 here.

I don't necessarily disagree, but again, this involves millions of people renewing and all those who would administer the tests. Millions more than the number of divers who would have to renew. But my question is are there any states that actually do this now?

---------- Post added June 12th, 2014 at 03:46 PM ----------

Are there any countries in which there is a legal requirement of having a license to dive?

Province of Quebec for sure (something from the Govt.--pretty much a rubber stamp I hear) and possibly France?

 

[nimoh]

Agree. But I believe there is something in place. If an instructor (or DM) becomes inactive (thus not renewing PADI membership--why pay for it?) he/she has to take some sort of refresher to start teaching again. I believe it also has to do with how long you are away from teaching. If the instructor is teaching all along they are also diving regularly anyway.

I recently let my PADI DM certification lapse since I wasn't using it, and asked PADI about what would happen if I change my mind and renew it. My understanding based on the reply is as follows:

Renewing after a lapse of less than 1 year:
1. Pay dues
2. Show proof of insurance

Renewing after a lapse of 1-3 years:
1. Pay dues
2. Show proof of insurance
3. Complete and online member forum - online presentation that runs about 2 hours and is no charge

Renewing after a lapse of more than 3 years:
1. no set procedure. Need to discuss necessary retraining with PADI, complete the retraining (for a fee)

I didn't ask further about it, but my guess is that "discuss necessary retraining" means discussing things that have changed in the PADI system over the time lapsed.

 

[boulderjohn]

I let my TDI membership lapse for a little over a year because circumstances meant I would not have any tech students for a while. I am currently going through some pretty significant hoops to get back into good graces.

 

[OkByMe]

Continually having to re-new anything is nothing more than revenue generation to pay the salaries of the make work people who were hired to handle the paperwork. It is also another measure of governmental control and intrusion which can be done away with. Why should you have to re-new a passport - Does your citizenship expire?, drivers license - Does your driving skill degrade?, vehicle tag - as long as you own it, Boat registration - as long as you own it, fishing license - until you move out of state, residential burglar alarm - until you tear down the house... I can go on and on. In each of those cases, nothing is ever tested or examined again, so what is the point? I'm waiting for the day that a skiing license or certification is required before you can get on a chair lift.

Most people do one of three things when it comes to a task. Continue to do it and get better at it, lose interest and quit, have a health issue that prevents it.