Nitrox "sign-out" sheet for tank fills at LDS

[theduckguru]

Now here's the little devil in me... What if I got nitrox in a place that made me spend 10 minutes signing off all my 10+ tanks - including digging up their serial numbers (which I think is a bit much). Then I dive and refill them again with nitrox in shop that is a bit more lax. Then I get into trouble - wouldn't it be so much easier to just say the nitrox came from the shop that had me go through all that trouble to get that precious nitrox, after all they have all the numbers and all in their log j/k

How long do the shops have to keep the logs? As in if I had been through 3-4 shops and now someone had to chase which nitrox fill killed me that might not have been been recent. I do not mark shop's names on my tapes, and everybody uses the same tapes. If I am dead, tanks can be traced whichever way and I am just curious that are the OCD shops just looking for trouble. Has there ever been cases were the logs have protected shops?

Note, I am not claiming this is bad practice. I just wonder if it would be enough to check the cert. It IS a nuisance for repeat/bulk customers, especially when it's more than just a quick sign off (re: serial numbers, and waiting in line for one malfunctioning analyzer when you forgot yours home). It does not really protect me (customer) in any way after my cert is checked, and I am failing to see big proof how it has protected the shops. Of course if shops can’t be trusted to check certs without this then… And maybe divers can’t be trusted to analyze without this either… I think shops keeping their fill logs is fine for their purposes but going over the top with keeping me prisoner when I just want my tanks out is a drag.

The protection for the dive shop is documentation that the gas you got is the gas you ordered and double checked before leaving the shop - nothing more and nothing less.

 

[RJP]

including digging up their serial numbers (which I think is a bit much).

Um, they are right there on the tank.

 

[The Chairman]

I hate the log books too. Too often, I am picking up a hot tank which has not homogenized and is going to be off due to the latent heat. If they force me to measure, I will, but I always carry an analyzer with me, with a spare at home, and measure at least 4 hours after fill. Yes, I have been known to pencil whip a form or two to get me out of a shop.

 

[piikki]

Um, they are right there on the tank.

Um yeah... And a lot of tanks have long enough serial numbers that I do not remember them by heart, esp if I have to remember 6 in one hit. It makes it bit of a pain when tanks are filled on the back of the shop and the fill log is tied down in the front of the shop or even in another building. Even if the log is next to the tanks (few places where I get fills), I still have to jot them down.

Don't make this to be about my stupidity when I have clearly admitted it's about my laziness. I know where the numbers are, I just wish all the shops would make this little smoother if it really gives them some protection.

 

[RJP]

Um yeah... And a lot of tanks have long enough serial numbers that I do not remember them by heart,

I just use the last two numbers of the serial numbers

 

[peterbj7]

It's standard procedure, and I'm surprised to see an American questioning it since the practice started in the USA for an American reason. It's the shop's way of transferring liability onto the diver. If the diver then uses the nitrox inappropriately, such as going too deep for the mix, the shop can point to the log and duck any liability. Most countries of the world aren't as litigious as the USA so the log book has less significance, but in Britain for example it's a legal requirement that the book is maintained. If the shop allows a diver to take a tank of nitrox away without the book being completed the shop has committed a criminal offence.

In my shop in Belize every retail customer (ie. end user) who took a tank away had to analyse it and complete the log - not law, my rules. Tanks I sold wholesale to other dive shops I initially tried to control the same way but it became infeasible, and I relied on those shops applying such a control to their retail customers. I also required that any wholesale customer had a working analyser available for their customers' use.

 

[piikki]

I just use the last two numbers of the serial numbers

Funny you should say so. I left out the several zeros in front of Hymark tanks and just used the actual 3 or 4 (I think 80s have 4 and 40s have 3) numbers, and that would not fly because the shop was so OCD. (Actually I think they did not realize that the numbers I left out were all zeros).

Also, I do happen to have two pairs of tanks where last three digits match. What a mess I could create! Does not matter with OCD shop though since it's not allowed.

 

[peterbj7]

I've owned some 300-odd tanks of various sizes, and I've never come across two which share the last 4 digits. So for quick reference I use those last 4 digits.

 

[cruiser]

My LDS doesn't carry nitrox, but everywhere else that I've gotten nitrox, be it another dive shop or a diving resort, I've had to analyze the gas for O2 content and sign a form indicating the O2 content and MOD.

 

[g2]

I know it's a legal CYA for the dive shop, or at least they want to feel as though they have some sort of legal protection.

I'm surprised to see an American questioning it

Hm. Perhaps we're not all the same. Unlike the Brits, of course.
:mooner: