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 Richard Pyle <deepreef@bi*.bi*.Ha*.Or*> wrote:

> I think the "standard" can be summed up in two sentences:

> "WHATEVER happens to you when you willingly go underwater is 
> COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY your own responsibility! If you cannot
> accept this responsibility, stay out of the water!"

> If a regulator fails in the middle of a dive, the diver cannot blame the
> manufacturer because the diver willingly accepted the risk of a regulator
> failure the moment they dipped below the surface.  If a charter boat
> captain does something really stupid and a diver gets hurt or killed, the
> diver has nobody to blame because he or she accepted that risk when he or
> she hired that boat captain. Give me any example where a diver gets hurt,
> and I will explain why it is ultimately the diver's fault.

I have some problems with this. I'm a big time advocate of personal
responsiblity and I believe that when I do something I am responsible
for the consequences of that action. However I believe that this also
applys to others. If the pilot of that boat goes off and leaves me
then he assumes the responsiblity for that action; in such a 
relationship there is an implicit assumption of the roles and
responibilities of each of the parties involved in the relationship.
Likewise if I take my regulator in for service and it subsequently
fails because of of improper servicing I think that's on the head of 
the person doing the work (though I feel it is my responsibility to
provide myself with an "out" if I know I will be in a hazardous
situation, which diving is). Likewise when I purchase a product, 
especially life support, I believe that there are certain responibilites
that the manufactor of that product has in regards to its quality
and design in regards to its intended use.

All this brings me to another complaint I have, that is of dive shops
and instructors who under empthisize the risks involved in the sport
in order to encourage people to buy their product. However that I won't
get into now.

Most of the time when a diver gets hurt its the diver's fault. However
there are times and situations where this can be debated. Does this
mean that I advocate suing everybody in the event of an injury or
death? No way. But I do believe that it is the fear of litigation
that keeps people and manufactors honest some times.

Eric

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