Are PADI OWD allowed to teach scuba diving during pool demos?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hmm... an interesting "Name & Shame" first ScubaBoard thread for you.

So you're in a DM internship currently - ostensibly with all the appropriate PADI materials, standards, etc - but needed to come here to "get more information regarding the PADI guidelines"?

What would you expect when the only qualifications for the divemaster training program are to be over 18 and alive? The OP's story is totally consistent with the information presented on the website.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 09:15 AM ----------

Sorry someone in thus thread has offended you, but you must understand that since the prerequisites for the PADI Divemaster are AOWD and Rescue Diver, it seemed odd that someone with these qualifications would describe himself as an open water diver.

He is in the dive master training program. According to the website you do NOT even need to be a diver to join. So while it is odd, it is consistent with the information contained in the website.
 
LOLZ...I don't think this thread is going the way the OP planned. :facepalm:

Exactly. I'm guessing he wanted some confirmation that Dressel was working him too hard doing things he didn't want to do. And he is OW, not even AOW, according to his own posts, so he cannot possibly be a DM candidate. The Dressel Internship is today's version of an indentured servant...you sign up for the whole thing or get nothing.
 
Even they call it, Zero to Hero.
 
Yes what are you? First you say you are working as a Dive Master intern, then you say you are currently an OW Diver which is it? As mentioned if you are a DM candidate you should have the required materials, if not you should be requesting them. Also RJP was right to post his remark, you should have given more information that you were not given the required materials earlier in your post as we do not know that, we know if you are a DM candidate you should have them. And as for being new you were a member back in 2013 and 2 years later your first post is naming names of a dive center with a negative post that is usually not a great first impression.

As an IDC staff instructor you should be ashamed. You could not take 15 seconds to actually look up the web page for the dive master internship program. RJP's post was ignorant and abusive. There is nothing in the OP's post that contradicts the public information the dive operator posted. The OP is an open water diver and is concerned that what he doing is unethical. As an open water diver he should not be alone (or paired with a non-professional) with students. The OP should be commended for asking about this not ridiculed. If someone gets hurt then the OP can be liable for negligence.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 09:27 AM ----------

Exactly. I'm guessing he wanted some confirmation that Dressel was working him too hard doing things he didn't want to do. And he is OW, not even AOW, according to his own posts, so he cannot possibly be a DM candidate. The Dressel Internship is today's version of an indentured servant...you sign up for the whole thing or get nothing.

Are you for real? The question is not the amount of work but the nature of the work. As an open water diver he should not be alone or with another non-professional giving scuba lessons.
 
Simple answer for the OP? Nope! Not under any PADI program.

No doubt Dressel can readily make the claim they are not participating in PADI programs. I am sure they have this figured out by now. They have been doing it for a long time.

Mexico' liability laws are not as those in the US (as far as I understand), so that would not be a concern.
 
How are you a Divemaster intern and :

- don't have the divemaster manual and instructor manual which outlines all these requirements?

- are a DM intern and only OW since you need to be rescue to be in a DM program?

Look at the website for the program.

Say, you aren't in some sort of zero to hero program so you could try and get over on the requirements by signing on to some absurd indentured servant program and get discounted instruction are you? Caveat emptor.

What does this have to do with a violation of training standards? If someone gets hurt under the OP's supervision could the OP be held liable? Do you think the OP has insurance?

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 09:43 AM ----------

Simple answer for the OP? Nope! Not under any PADI program.

No doubt Dressel can readily make the claim they are not participating in PADI programs. I am sure they have this figured out by now. They have been doing it for a long time.

Mexico' liability laws are not as those in the US (as far as I understand), so that would not be a concern.

If the OP is American and victim is American he can be sued here in the US and he has no insurance.
 
According to the website, one does not even have to be certified to dive to sign up for this internship. But materials ARE supposed to be included.

PADI has some control over what is done in their name, to the extent that standards violations can result in termination of instructor status, or get a dive shop kicked out of the 5 star program. But if the shop is doing something which is not sold using any PADI umbrella, they can do whatever they want. They would be in interesting liability trouble, were a problem to occur, but as has already been pointed out, this is happening in Mexico, where the liability situation is very different from the US -- and I would guess that a lot if not all of the "pseudo-Discover Scuba" students are from other countries, where filing a lawsuit in Mexico would be a major, expensive PITA.

I personally believe it is inadvisable for staff with no teaching training or experience to be conducting introductions to scuba, and I also think anybody who is even in a pool with someone on their first experience breathing underwater should, at the very least, have a great deal of composure in the water themselves. This is not often the case for simple OW divers with low dive counts.
 
There is nothing in the OP's post that contradicts the public information the dive operator posted. The OP is an open water diver and is concerned that what he doing is unethical.

The OP calls himself a DM candidate. He is not; he doesn't even know the ground rules for the program he is in.


Are you for real? The question is not the amount of work but the nature of the work. As an open water diver he should not be alone or with another non-professional giving scuba lessons.
Now who is being abusive? LOL
We all agree he should not be doing what he is doing.
The underlying question is WHY is he coming to ScubaBoard to ask about this?
I'm suggesting it is possibly because he is unhappy with what he is being asked to do....he doesn't feel it is a good (and maybe proper) use of his time. He chooses to frame it around what is allowed; fine. Maybe if he can get them in trouble, he can get his money back and get out of the mess he is in.
 
He never said he is a "Dive Master Candidate." He said he is working towards his Dive Master.
Technically... if a person's end goal it to be a SCUBA instructor and they are currently taking OW they might say that they are working towards being an instructor. It wouldn't fit into the terminology that I would use, but in their mind it might be correct.
 
He never said he is a "Dive Master Candidate." He said he is working towards his Dive Master.
Technically... if a person's end goal it to be a SCUBA instructor and they are currently taking OW they might say that they are working towards being an instructor. It wouldn't fit into the terminology that I would use, but in their mind it might be correct.

You are absolutely correct. It was we readers who all assumed he was a DMC.
 

Back
Top Bottom