Why are certifications valid forever?

[videofly]

Certifications last as long as you like. Since my NASDS certification was equipment wise outdated, I recently got PADI certified. If you feel like you need or want more education or training, just do it, and let others make that decision for themselves.

 

[Kharon]

Next these guys will want to revoke my BA & MA because I haven't worked in Biology ever. I admit to forgetting more than I recall but it's a diploma (certificate) that was given because I completed a specific course of education. My qualifications to work in the field are nill but that has nothing to do with the certificate.

Same for divers. The card simply tells everyone that at a certain time the person holding the card had successfully completed a specific course of education. What they did with that education afterwards is what qualifies them to dive. A very wise lady (even older than me) told me that any card is just a learners permit. I believe it. I'm still learning on every dive.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Y'all realize that if the NSA picks up this conversation and forwards to the brain surgeons in Washington, they will create some group to issue annual permits and collect taxes (er.. I mean permit fees) from us

Drivers licenses and a good example. I had one in-car exam in 1960 something. Since then as long as I send in my fees they renew it automatically, no questions asked. The exception was when I moved to new states, the new state took my picture and asked me to take a multiple guess test a 3rd grader could pass. Safety was not the issue, tracking ID's and collecting fees was the name of the game.

---------- Post added June 21st, 2014 at 09:10 AM ----------

Certifications last as long as you like. Since my NASDS certification was equipment wise outdated, I recently got PADI certified. If you feel like you need or want more education or training, just do it, and let others make that decision for themselves.

My NASDS card crumbled into 100 pieces, so I did the PADI thing too. My NASDS training was superior in every aspect.

 

[videofly]

Since my NASDS training was part of a college credit course that included over a dozen evenings of confined water instruction plus frigid December open water dives in Lake Skaneateles, NY, with quarter inch wetsuits, J-valves, and horse collars, I too feel that it was superior training. It seemed that we covered a lot of survival exercises and what to do if you get into trouble scenarios. Over time, my card also seemed to not survive, but I did.

 

[KeithG]

As the owner of a training agency and with diving safety as our first and major priority, I have tried over the past ten years to get a "Time Limit" based on experience into our system, but it has always been blocked... My idea was to have those divers who dive less than five times a year for cards to expire... and those who are diving more than five dives a year will continue to remain "Certified"... Technical divers, CCR and CAVE in particular need to keep their skills sharp to remain safe and would have 2 year certifications... Please share your thoughts...

NO!
Well maybe. Right after I have to renew my grocery shopping and hockey license as those activities can be much more hazardous to the health. I have friends with severe food allergies and have witnessed more physical injuries and deaths at hockey games than while diving.

 

[Lostdiver71]

Depending on how long it has been since you have renewed PADI may require you to take a partial or full Instructor Development Course and possibly retake the Instructor Exam!


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[nimoh]

Drivers licenses and a good example. I had one in-car exam in 1960 something. Since then as long as I send in my fees they renew it automatically, no questions asked.

..and as long as you haven't racked up a bunch of traffic tickets or cited for drunk driving. My point being that driver's licenses are continually evaluated in the field, while in scuba diving nobody issues citations for running out of gas or going into a cave without training.

 

[drrich2]

...while in scuba diving nobody issues citations for running out of gas or going into a cave without training.

That would be Officer Murphy.

Richard.

 

[The Kraken]

Do the laws of physics change?

Sure, organizations will shift positions from time to time to ensure their corporate longevity, but just think about it.

 

[boulderjohn]

.... while in scuba diving nobody issues citations for running out of gas or going into a cave without training.

Most initial stages of cave diving certifications do expire. Cave diving has its own way of issuing citations.

In the Cave Divers Forum there is currently a pretty contentious thread that was started by a cave diver who was accosted and cussed out on the surface because of the overall quality of his performance on the dive he had just completed. He referred to the Cave Diving police in his post. Well, the "policeman" responded with a pretty detailed description of the horrors he had witnessed. It's a new thread, and it will be interesting to follow, but I sure has heck would not want to be the one having my perceived diving deficiencies reported to my peers, and it would certainly make me reconsider things. this works because the cave diving community is so very small that word can get around very quickly.

That was a certified cave diver. What about going in without any training? In that case, there is a much more effective citation issued all too often. Although the number of people who dive in caves without appropriate training is considered to be very small, probably only a percent or two of the total cave dives made annually, they account for most of the fatalities.