AD 2015 Q4
This is the “not do” component. It is also somewhat harder to define. After all, who determines the duty to care and the non-compliance thereto in unique emergency situations? Still, this component is more likely to lead to a recovery of damages. Put differently, when you are under a legal duty to take reasonable care and you do not do it, then you could be held liable for damages that are directly caused by the breach of that duty. The key elements are “reasonable care” and “directly caused”. Let’s break that down, starting with directly caused. This means that the damages are linked directly to the failure to perform the reasonable duty. This is called a causal connection. In other words, there must be a connection between the duty not complied with and the damages. deep diving are so hazardous that it may well be better to only jeopardise the life of one individual rather than two. That is, of course, as long as no one is put at risk during the subsequent body recovery or rescue efforts! Well, as a qualified instructor and dive leader, I shall continue to teach and advocate the buddy system. I do not like the idea of diving alone anyway. I prefer to share the joys of diving with someone able to share the memories of the dive. To me, diving is, and remains, a team sport. Which introduces another consideration: How would the principle of duty to take care be applied to children who dive? Training agencies impose age and depth restrictions on children who enter the sport before the age of 14. Depending on the age and diving course, a child may be required to dive with an instructor or at least another adult dive buddy. If the adult were to get into trouble, the child would not be expected to meet the duty of care of another adult. He/she would be held to an age appropriate standard. What about all those waivers? As mentioned in the previous article, waivers define the boundaries of the self-imposed risk divers are willing to take by requiring that they acknowledge them. Waivers do not remove all the potential claims for negligence and non-compliance with a duty of care. As such, it is left to our courts to ultimately interpret the content of a waiver within the actual context of damage or injury.
This is the “not do” component. It is also somewhat harder to define. After all, who determines the duty to care and the non-compliance thereto in unique emergency situations? Still, this component is more likely to lead to a recovery of damages. Put differently, when you are under a legal duty to take reasonable care and you do not do it, then you could be held liable for damages that are directly caused by the breach of that duty. The key elements are “reasonable care” and “directly caused”. Let’s break that down, starting with directly caused. This means that the damages are linked directly to the failure to perform the reasonable duty. This is called a causal connection. In other words, there must be a connection between the duty not complied with and the damages.
deep diving are so hazardous that it may well be better to only jeopardise the life of one individual rather than two. That is, of course, as long as no one is put at risk during the subsequent body recovery or rescue efforts! Well, as a qualified instructor and dive leader, I shall continue to teach and advocate the buddy system. I do not like the idea of diving alone anyway. I prefer to share the joys of diving with someone able to share the memories of the dive. To me, diving is, and remains, a team sport. Which introduces another consideration: How would the principle of duty to take care be applied to children who dive? Training agencies impose age and depth restrictions on children who enter the sport before the age of 14. Depending on the age and diving course, a child may be required to dive with an instructor or at least another adult dive buddy. If the adult were to get into trouble, the child would not be expected to meet the duty of care of another adult. He/she would be held to an age appropriate standard. What about all those waivers? As mentioned in the previous article, waivers define the boundaries of the self-imposed risk divers are willing to take by requiring that they acknowledge them. Waivers do not remove all the potential claims for negligence and non-compliance with a duty of care. As such, it is left to our courts to ultimately interpret the content of a waiver within the actual context of damage or injury.
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MEMBER<br />
TO<br />
MEMBER<br />
Attracting<br />
College Students<br />
to Diving<br />
By Reilly Fogarty<br />
At a recent Beneath the Sea dive expo,<br />
I had the experience of being — as far<br />
as I could tell — the youngest active<br />
diver in attendance.<br />
The people I dive with, my diveindustry<br />
colleagues and the diving<br />
role models I aspire to follow are all a generation<br />
or two older than me. Diving’s attractions haven’t<br />
changed much since those divers discovered<br />
the activity, and the costs haven’t become more<br />
prohibitive, but it is difficult to find evidence of a new<br />
generation of divers embracing the sport.<br />
By finding ways to appeal to groups of college-age<br />
people, rather than just individuals, and intentionally<br />
reaching out to a younger demographic, the dive<br />
industry can attract not only more divers, but the divers<br />
who will make up the next generation of our sport.<br />
My own introduction to diving set the hook firmly.<br />
Among the reasons it succeeded are that it involved a<br />
group of like-minded divers my own age, it provided<br />
college credit, and it offset some of the costs. These<br />
factors led me and many of my fellow students to take<br />
ownership of both the learning process and the sport.<br />
The most effective means of imparting this<br />
ownership, from my perspective as both a young<br />
diver and a member of the industry, is the integrated<br />
college program. These programs offer classes with<br />
a single up-front cost and convenient access to gear,<br />
instructors and facilities. Students can go through<br />
the course with a group of friends, which removes<br />
the social hurdle of entering a sport dominated by a<br />
generally older and wealthier demographic.<br />
I was trained through Project DEEP, a nonprofit<br />
based in Gloucester, Mass., that targets college students<br />
and requires an investment of time and money that I<br />
believe is within reach of most interested and motivated<br />
students. I was initially drawn to the program at my<br />
college by the single all-inclusive cost. The fact that<br />
my friends and I could take the course together and<br />
for college credit sealed the deal. Getting certified<br />
along with classmates led to a tightly connected diving<br />
community that has endured years after graduation.<br />
I won’t say that college-aged divers are the be-all and<br />
end-all of the next generation of diving. Many families<br />
get involved and grow our community with their<br />
spouses, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. And, of<br />
course, many divers pick up the sport later in life. But<br />
my experience learning from someone close to my age<br />
along with a group of students like me demonstrated<br />
the value and effectiveness of the integrated college<br />
program. And I believe a young adult who dives of his<br />
or her own volition is likely to join a club, bring friends<br />
to diving and dive often.<br />
In support of attracting new divers, I volunteer for<br />
Project DEEP and groups like it, and I believe I offer<br />
welcome encouragement to the new students. You<br />
too can volunteer with college groups, dive clubs and<br />
industry outreach<br />
programs, and<br />
you may find,<br />
like I did, that<br />
these programs<br />
do good things<br />
for not only the<br />
students and the<br />
dive community<br />
but for you as<br />
well. <strong>AD</strong><br />
SHARE YOUR STORY<br />
Do you have tips, advice, travel<br />
strategies, dive techniques, lessons<br />
learned or other words of wisdom<br />
to share with your fellow divers?<br />
Alert Diver wants your story!<br />
Email it to M2M@dan.org, or<br />
mail it to “Member To Member,”<br />
c/o Alert Diver, 6 W. Colony<br />
Place, Durham, NC 27705.<br />
STEPHEN FRINK<br />
111 | FALL <strong>2015</strong>
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