So, in news that will come as no surprise to anyone at all, there are calls for tougher industry standards given that there have been 6 snorkelling and diving deaths in Australia in the last week alone.
Calls for age restrictions, tougher medical standards, tougher training standards...
Which won't actually solve the problem here. Half of the cases in the last week occurred on private independent trips with guys who were shore diving or had their own boat. Only 3 of the 6 cases occurred on commercially operated dive trips. How exactly do they plan to police the "tougher medical standards" when so many people don't actually go on commercial dive trips? You do your medical for your certs, then nada (if you're doing your own thing).
Many divers in Australia don't use commercial operators to do their diving, they've got their own boats or they shore dive. You can't police that. People need to police themselves when they're getting on a bit or have health problems. You can't regulate stupidity.
Also, while I'm not against tougher training standards, that is well beyond the scope of anything Australia can control. That's a commercial standard, and to be totally honest, unless PADI changes (given that they have the overwhelming majority of the marketshare in Australia), there's nothing the government here can really do.
Thoughts?
Calls for age restrictions, tougher medical standards, tougher training standards...
Which won't actually solve the problem here. Half of the cases in the last week occurred on private independent trips with guys who were shore diving or had their own boat. Only 3 of the 6 cases occurred on commercially operated dive trips. How exactly do they plan to police the "tougher medical standards" when so many people don't actually go on commercial dive trips? You do your medical for your certs, then nada (if you're doing your own thing).
Many divers in Australia don't use commercial operators to do their diving, they've got their own boats or they shore dive. You can't police that. People need to police themselves when they're getting on a bit or have health problems. You can't regulate stupidity.
Also, while I'm not against tougher training standards, that is well beyond the scope of anything Australia can control. That's a commercial standard, and to be totally honest, unless PADI changes (given that they have the overwhelming majority of the marketshare in Australia), there's nothing the government here can really do.
Thoughts?
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