Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
>Here in Queensland,a somewhat antiquated state of Australia,we have a
>government diving inspector who is an Ex.Police Diver and as such is very
>set in his ways. To give you all a good example of 'his ways',I was recently
>fortunate enough to attend a seminar on the PRISM rebreather, at which the
>diving inspector announced that as there was no mixed gas diving in
>Queensland we could not take the PRISM for an ocean dive. When it was
>explained to the inspector that even air was a mixed gas and as such by his
>rationale there should not be any diving at all (except skindiving),he
>became rather confused and agitated. The final result was that we could use
>the PRISM in the pool,but it was with 100% O2. I suppose we should be
>thankful to have the Great Barrier Reef so close,there's so much to see at 6
>metres when i'm using my C2.NO problems associated with depth for me.
>On another note, thanks to all those people who pointed me in the right
>direction 'subscription wise'.
Now, this is something. I can see them saying that 100% O2 rebreathers
are okay, so the rebreather manufacturers will supply the rebreathers with
control computers that will mix 100% O2. Then, someone comes along a bootleg
ROM chip for the rebreather control computers that will restore the "normal"
varying ppO2 operating mode. So, who will be the wisest??? Stupid as those
officials seem to be, it could even be possible to masquerade the firmware
changeover as an "improvement upgrade", or even make it a customer
switchable "option"...
(I can see the disclaimer written in big letters on the rebreather:
"Warning: the Queensland directorate of diving inspection has determined
that the use of mixed gas is dangerous to your health, and turning that
option on is not permitted in Queensland").
Besides, you certainly can't expect this one person to personally inspect
every diver's gear, or even worse, what is he putting in his tank (I say
that, because a friend of mine - also a reader of this list, name hidden to
protect the guilty - is making his own NITROX mixing rig at this moment)...
What's the point in making unverifiable requirements? It's like saying that
the inside of mountain bikes inner tubes must be painted yellow.
* * *
I find the situation depicted in Australia somewhat curious. I remember a
few years back seeing pictures a friend took there during a long
train-watching trip, and we were startled at the number of people riding
trains on "normally" out-of-reach places, like roofs, steps and the like.
Likewise about wandering unanounced (and uninvited) into a locomotive
service shop or any other "off limit" place and going all over the place to
take pictures, something that is impossible to do here (the railroad cops
will nail you in seconds flat)... My friend said that the Australian
attitude towards safety/liability is "if you come here and you're stupid
enough to get hurt, well, though luck" (likewise in France, if you're on a
train without a ticket and the train derails, tough luck, you can't claim
anything at all against the railroad - OTOH, I recall that once, a bus hit a
car in New-Orleans. By the time the police arrived, about 15 people had
boarded the bus and complained of back injuries...). So, given all this, it
is somewhat strange to see such stringent "regulation" of diving in Australia.
---========================================================---
Handy pocket Whitehouse internet directory
Bill Clinton: President@Wh*.go*
Al Gore: VicePresident@Wh*.go*
Hillary Clinton: Root@wh*.go*
Socks the Cat UUCP@wh*.go*
---========================================================---
Marc Dufour, alias mdufour@ca*.or* depuis 1994
[\] ACUC 6 31874 http://WWW.CAM.ORG/~mdufour
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]