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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GEAR<br />
Establishing a Baseline<br />
HOW DIVE COMPUTERS DETERMINE SURFACE PRESSURE<br />
By Tyler Coen<br />
As altitude increases, atmospheric air<br />
pressure decreases. This simple fact<br />
has important implications for both<br />
our bodies and the operation of depth<br />
gauges.<br />
Rather than measuring depth directly, digital depth<br />
gauges measure absolute pressure, which includes both<br />
the water pressure and the atmospheric air pressure<br />
above the water (hereafter referred to as surface pressure).<br />
A computer cannot measure the surface pressure during<br />
a dive, so this information is determined and saved before<br />
the dive. The computer calculates depth by subtracting<br />
the saved surface pressure from the measured absolute<br />
pressure.<br />
Errors in determining surface pressure may result<br />
from the unit being slightly submerged at the time<br />
of sampling or from defaulting to a standard value<br />
equivalent to sea-level pressure when the diver is<br />
actually at altitude. Using a surface pressure that is<br />
higher than reality is bad in two ways. First, too much<br />
pressure will be subtracted from the absolute reading,<br />
resulting in a depth estimate that is too shallow, possibly<br />
causing you to exceed your planned depth. Second,<br />
an erroneously high surface pressure estimate means<br />
the decompression calculations will underestimate<br />
the magnitude of the decompression stress, effectively<br />
increasing the risk of decompression sickness (DCS).<br />
Weather can cause the surface pressure to vary, but<br />
only by amounts that are relatively insignificant for<br />
diving purposes (typically no more than 6 inches of water<br />
depth). Altitude, conversely, has a much larger impact.<br />
For example, diving in Lake Tahoe (elevation 6,225 feet)<br />
involves a reduction in surface pressure equivalent to<br />
about 6.5 feet of water depth compared with sea level.<br />
When a diver surfaces at high altitude, the<br />
surface pressure is less than that of sea level. This<br />
means the diver’s tissues have a relatively higher<br />
level of supersaturation, which promotes greater<br />
bubble growth, thus increasing the risk of DCS.<br />
Decompression models used by dive computers must<br />
know either the altitude or the surface pressure so<br />
they can establish appropriate no-decompression<br />
limits. Some models do this automatically, while others<br />
require manual user input.<br />
In a review of dive computers currently on<br />
the market, all were found to feature automatic<br />
compensation of depth readings for altitude. This is<br />
good, as it saves the user from needing to manually<br />
perform an adjustment. However, the method used to<br />
determine surface pressure varies among manufacturers,<br />
and some methods may be more accurate than others.<br />
The ideal method for determining surface pressure<br />
would be reliable and accurate, require no intervention<br />
from the user and never be fooled by events that<br />
cause pressure changes (such as air travel or brief<br />
submergence before a dive). This can be difficult to<br />
achieve in real life, as designers must balance competing<br />
variables such as unexpected user behavior, hardware<br />
limitations and the need for low power consumption.<br />
The computer often uses the moment of activation to<br />
sample the surface pressure. This works well when the<br />
user turns on the computer at the surface immediately<br />
before a dive. Since this step can be forgotten, however,<br />
most computers are designed with automatic activation<br />
backup. If activated while submerged, the much<br />
higher density of water compared with air can result<br />
in significant error in the surface pressure estimate for<br />
even minor depths of submergence. Auto-activation<br />
techniques must take steps to protect against such<br />
errors. Some models have wet contacts to detect<br />
the presence of water for auto-activation. Once the<br />
unit senses water, it will turn on if needed and then<br />
sample the ambient pressure. This can provide a good<br />
estimate of surface pressure, provided that the sampling<br />
is frequent and minimal descent has occurred. Wet<br />
contacts are typically sampled every 1 to 5 seconds.<br />
Problematically, significant error could result if a diver<br />
initiated an immediate descent upon entering the water.<br />
Models without wet contacts will auto-activate<br />
when an increase in pressure is detected (i.e., a descent<br />
begins). Because these models are already underwater<br />
when activation occurs, they must keep a history of<br />
pressure samples while in standby mode and then apply<br />
an algorithm to determine the surface pressure. These<br />
methods may be complex and are not typically released<br />
in detail. Some computers detect a relative increase in<br />
pressure for auto-activation. The advantage of using a<br />
relative pressure increase is the activation depth can be<br />
112 | FALL <strong>2015</strong>
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