Allentown Newspaper article on Dutch Springs

[drrich2]

One diver said Dutch Springs, owned by Stuart Schooley and his wife, Jane Wells Schooley, could do more to alert divers of the risks. Tom Kozlowski, a recreational diver from Bethlehem, said Dutch Springs should post signs indicating the number of fatalities it has had as a way to drive home warnings about the dangers.

Or divers could be adults or under adult supervision by their parents or parentally chosen care takers. Should McDonalds put annual heart attack & diabetes statistics on Big Mac wrappers? Who runs a business trying to scare people off?

I envision walking into the dive shop to check in, and a wide-eyed, crazy-looking staffer reaches across the counter, grabs me by the shirt and shrieks 'You could die!!! There's death waiting down there! Death I tell you!' What is this 'do more' crap? If you go underwater, you could drown. If you go underwater & have a heart attack or similar major medical event, you could die. If you run out of air underwater, that is not good.

Is diving going to become regulated like the tobacco industry? Are tanks going to be sold with photos of bloated dead divers on them?

At the 100-acre Dutch Springs recreation area, there have been 16 deaths since 1986, according to The Morning Call's archives. It's difficult to determine if that is a high or low number of deaths for one diving area. Because there is no regulatory agency overseeing the sport, statistics on diving deaths aren't readily available.

Because there's not yet another government regulatory agency blowing tax dollars regulating people who don't want to be regulated?

After two deaths at Dutch Springs during a less-than-three-week period in 1986, Schooley contemplated getting out of the business. He ultimately decided to keep Dutch Springs and instituted a safety patrol.
Up to four or five dive masters or instructors are on hand to patrol the shores and look for signs of inexperience or trouble. Schooley says the operation has emergency medical technicians and paramedics on site and a safety boat.
Dutch Springs prohibits solo diving except for those with a solo diving certification card. Those divers must provide additional paperwork and use a dive locater, a sort of tracking device. Solo divers must also file a dive plan.
"We have to be assured that if they're not with an instructor that they know what they're doing," Schooley said during an interview this month.

And this is how regulation tends to work out. Nobody is supposed to die. Every time somebody does (& they will), your measures aren't adequate, you could 'do more,' and you need a 'plan of correction' with more requirements.

Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said that during the death investigations his office has done at Dutch Springs, Schooley and his staff have been cooperative.
"I have found that they adequately warned the divers [about the dangers] and had adequate safety measures," Lysek said.
"It's a high-risk recreational activity," he added. "You make one mistake, it's not forgiving."

High risk compared to what? Hiding under your bed? Yes, people can die diving. But I think the large majority of mistakes don't result in serious injury. Look at all the posts on this forum criticizing what someone saw another diver do.

It sounds like Dutch Springs management has considerable safety management features in place. Compare that to when we read posts about some dive op.s basically acting as taxis to & from dive sites rather than 'molly coddlers' providing adult supervision, and posts talking about how people should be responsible for themselves.

Richard.

 

[acxc]

And no one pointed out the two locations on the lake where there are certified EMT/Paramedics and Divemasters stationed all day. The safety equipment, oxygen kits, AED's and customized rescue vessel. Not to mention the radio communication among the staff, the check in procedure and the vigilance of all of the lake staff.

BTW - another contributor to the article is from Georgia, does he frequent Dutch Springs? I don't know, but I have been told he is no longer a member of the NAUI Board of Directors. Just makes ya wonder how these two were sought out.

Just looks like another just-thumpin, excuse for sensationalism that passes for journalism or calling oneself and author.

Just my 2 cents

If the author had sourced someone more familiar with Dutch Springs, his story would have been able to tell people that most deaths there are more attributed to anything from a medical emergency or equipment errors to complacency and complete disregard for facility rules among "experienced" divers. Not ill-prepared students. Instead, the two "professionals" he consulted are telling readers that diving is dangerous because the people that teach you how cut corners because all they care about is money. And you wonder why it's such a struggle to fill classes anymore. But that doesn't leave room for self promotion in the piece.

and just as the article fails to talk about all the over the top safety practices Dutch does have, we could talk for hours about all the non-incidents that have occurred because of the countless number of safe and quality instructors and divers that are there diving every weekend.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Are tanks going to be sold with photos of bloated dead divers on them?

If someone can hook me up with some of those, I could really put them to use scaring the out of tourist groups that dive some of the wrecks I do.

 

[wrybosome]

If someone can hook me up with some of those, I could really put them to use scaring the out of tourist groups that dive some of the wrecks I do.

Meh, I don't scare that easy.

Definitely a tourist down there however.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[tridacna]

The most refreshing aspect of the article is that it was published in a crap newspaper with a miniscule circulation by a journalist who writes at grade 3 level. IOW it will have as much impact on diving as this thread. I've never read such puerile codswallop in a long while. Pathetically poor journalism.

I go to Dutch almost every weekend in summer. Remember that of those 70,000 divers, most are going there for their first open water dive making those statistics even MORE impressive. Such an obvious 'duh'.

 

[SeaCobra]

But it may have a local, negative impact on the business for Dutch Springs. Dutch also draws a significant income from the aqua park and general family fun and frolicking. A lot of us local dive shop owners are appreciative of having Dutch Springs so close and all that they do for safety and the comfort of the divers. I have two other lakes closer to me, but I drive an extra half hour to get to Dutch for those reasons.

If I am in the middle of one of the other lakes and something happens, I am on my own. I will have to swim that diver to safety, activate EMS, perform first aid and/or CPR, etc. At Dutch there is a significant support level.

 

[tridacna]

I doubt that it will have any impact whatsoever. Anyone intending on going to the aqua park or camping will not be put off by this 'diving' fearmongering. We'll still be taking students for years to come. Personally I think Jim's comments were more self-promoting than worrisome to potential visitors. A real journalist would have done a site visit, interviewed instructors and reported on what they saw and heard. Interviewing someone with an axe to grind about the quality of instruction of others does not really contribute in a meaningful way.

 

[Bob DBF]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/redirect-to/?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcall.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fmc-dutch-springs-scuba-deaths-20150725-story.html%23page%3D1
The Divers Alert Network, which calls itself the world's largest association of recreational scuba divers, says 80-100 people die annually in diving accidents in North America. Those numbers are based on deaths that are reported to the organization. Many of those deaths occurred in oceans and rivers.
The network, in a 2011 report on scuba diving deaths, indicated the annual fatality rate for insured Divers Alert Network members was 16.4 per 100,000. There are an estimated 3 million divers in the United States, according to the organization.

Lets see, using DAN's high figure of 100 deaths per year and 3 million divers, that's 10 fatalities per 100,000 divers. Joining DAN seems to be dangerous, good thing they have insurance.

My issue is that no one is actually keeping accurate track of the numbers they are using for statistics they make up concerning the dive industry as a whole. Last DAN warning sheet I saw from DAN showed the dangers of hunting and included Abalone diver deaths; Abalone can not be taken on SCUBA, so should we now include free-divers in the number of divers in the US?


The writer is obviously trying to sell newspapers and may be trying to get a writing assignment on Shark Week, since they also won't let reality get in the way of a good scare story.



Bob
-------------------------------------------
“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”
― Mark Twain

 

[lowviz]

I personally think it's a crappy article that says nothing beyond the headline. It's obvious that the author wanted a really big story about how dangerous scuba is, or how dangerous Dutch is, or how the government will protect us all from ourselves. He ended up with an article that says nothing at all... .

No, it says volumes. Yellow journalism is still alive and well in some provincial areas. Contrast this with the immediate removal of a very popular reporter for flubbing just one story: Chris May, 2 Others, Out at CBS 3 Philly - Updated

And no one pointed out the two locations on the lake where there are certified EMT/Paramedics and Divemasters stationed all day. The safety equipment, oxygen kits, AED's and customized rescue vessel. Not to mention the radio communication among the staff, the check in procedure and the vigilance of all of the lake staff. ...//...

It is a defunct cement quarry, not a lake. But to the point of safety and vigilance, both are truly there in force to the point of being annoying (to me). I'll give it to you straight. I don't like Dutch much. My first experience was driving down to the peninsula with my son for a class and some jackass screaming at all the cars: "Unload your $**T and get out of here!" Who was that guy? Somebody knows. Well that certainly took the glow off of the day. This was back when there were only porta-potties and rubber mats on the ground. No hot showers and food building. Things have changed for the better. Still not my cup of tea, but being greeted with my issue (training dive, paid online) by some dear thing young enough to be my daughter's child and treated like a person, not an invisible "old person" was refreshing.

...//... At Dutch there is a significant support level.

Yes, I would have to agree that they take safety seriously. There is a constant and pervasive surface watch and all are connected by radio. Seriously, what more can be done other than sending a Dutch wetnurse to dive with everyone that is certified to drop below the surface?

 

[hilljo88]

Whenever I read an article about something I know well, I'm amazed at how superficial, slanted and inaccurate it is.Especially when written by an author with no real knowledge of the topic. Makes you wonder about all the other articles you read and think are accurate.