Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Banner Advert

Message Display

From: "Tom Mount" <TOM.MOUNT@wo*.at*.ne*>
To: <kirvine@sa*.ne*>, <cavers@ca*.co*>
Cc: "techdiver" <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Subject: Re: IANTD criticzing teh WKPP in Sun Sentinel
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 15:49:01 -0400
To George
First of all IANTD has not made any statements about WKPP in any medium. To
my knowledge there is no Rivalry between IANTD and WKPP, why would there be
we are a training agency WKPP is an exploration team?

Derrick apparently has said something about you or WKPP that is based on his
opinion. Derrick has a right to his opinion, and based on comments about him
by George and others  I imagines he feels he has a good reason for speaking
out but he  is not a spokesman for IANTD.

Now as you know I do not have the liberty of discussing this accident on a
public forum.

I will explain that IANTD does have stringent standards to become an
instructor at any level. For those of you wishing to check these standards
you may do so at the IANTD web site

 http//www.IANTD.com

The same standards spell out the requirements for various diver levels;
quite often these courses are taught as combination programs as allowed in
the standards provided the diver has met all the qualifications.
If you compare these standards from basic OW to Trimix diver you will
discover they are about the most demanding and rigid standards to be found.

I and IANTD have spent countless hours developing programs to make diving
safer. These programs are always evolving and developing. Our total
concentration is on dive safety and the standards we have do reflect that.

IANTD also has a quality control program. Within this program there are
mechanisms for dealing with standards violations, ethics violations and
accidents. Most of these are an automatic response and in the event of
diving accidents begin with a stated procedure from the IANTD QA manual and
a comprehensive investigation.
This includes obtaining all information pertinent to the accident,
statements from
 Students
 Other divers on the dive
 A QA form being sent to all former students of the instructor.
 Determinations by the ME,
 Reports form the recovery team,
 Reports from the diving vessel
 Review of the training program conducted to the date of the accident,
 Statements from other sources who are aware of the diving instructor and
his/her practices
 Statements from others who are familiar with the capabilities of the
accident victim

These include people who have dived with or observed the instructor and
student during training.

Once all this information is compiled the data is sent to a QA board
consisting of members of the IANTD international BOA. Most of these people
will not even know a given instructor and will be totally impartial in
reviewing all of the data.

Based on their(BOA) determinations one of the following will take place.
These actions are for the overall protection of the instructor; the public
and IANTD while ensuring fair and just due process will evolve:

First immediate step: Limited teaching status (the instructor is allowed to
teach with another instructor while under investigation).
Events following an investigation

1. If it is found that the instructor is not at fault in the accident in any
way whatsoever then the limited teaching status will be removed and the
instructor will go back on normal teaching status.
Note! Most agencies simply send out a letter to the instructor informing
them that the accident is under investigation and take no additional action
at that time. Again IANTD has a more stringent program

2. If the BOA determines that the events are questionable but not directly
controllable or preventable by the instructor The instructor will be placed
on provisional or restricted statues and the BOA will spell out specific
procedures to be adhered to in order to be reinstated to normal teaching
status.

3. If the BOA finds that the instructor did not act responsibility the
instructor may be suspended with the ability to request an appeal to the
BOA. A suspended instructor may or may not be given a provision for
reinstatement following one year of suspension again as determined by the
BOA based on its finding of all the facts.

4. The BOA may find cause for expulsion from instructor and membership
status within IANTD

This is all I can comment on and it is the procedures IANTD follows in this
type of event as spelled out in our QA manual.

At least all of you now know the actions IANTD takes when there is an
accident . These procedures were developed by numerous members of IANTD
internationally and within the legal constraints recommended by our counsel.
Again we believe they are stricter than other agencies in recreational and
technical diving and at the same time that they will provide a more factual
review of an accident, possible means of preventing future accidents and
will be fair to all parties involved.

The decision to do any of the above will be that of due process by impartial
peers.
Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: katherine Irvine <kirvine@sa*.ne*>
To: cavers@ca*.co* <cavers@ca*.co*>
Cc: techdiver <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 05, 1998 9:02 PM
Subject: IANTD criticzing teh WKPP in Sun Sentinel


>Get a load of this: after I went out and recovered the body of a girl
>killed during an IANTD trimix class run by Derek McNulty off of the Reef
>Cat, Mc Nulty gets in the Sun Sentinel and CRITICIZES the WKPP,saying
>there is a "rivalry" between the WKPP and IANTD, and that the WKPP
>methods are "unorthodox".
>
>  Who is this comeplete nobody stroke to be saying something like this
>after he just killed a student and WKPP had to do the recovery?
>

--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]