[Andy the Coastie]

After reading Dec 04's diver mag. Page 9 Skippers comeback is a good write up from Dive skipper Mike Snelling of Girl Gray defending skippers of dive boats .

This is after a chairman of a BSAC club wrote in a letter to Diver's October issue .

No excuses for O2-free skippers

In this day and age, I am amazed that the Health & Safety Executive does not insist that UK charter-boats carry an oxygen set! It is well-documented that the first course of action for a diver with DCS symptoms is to put him or her on O2. Most clubs have their own supply on their RIBS, but if you charter a boat, surely the onus should be on its owner?

In a large club, it's a problem. Mine sometimes runs four or five separate dive trips on the same weekend. We have two O2 sets and two RIBs, so if both RIBs are out we rely on the charter-boats to have O2 onboard. Not all do!

Here's another scenario: what happens if your dive-boat skipper has a heart attack while all the divers are on a drift-dive? Not all skippers have an assistant and, again, I am amazed that this is not an HSE requirement.
Charter-boat skippers will say that charter prices would have to rise to pay for such measures. I'm sure 99% of divers would be willing to pay a little extra for a lot more safety.

My advice is to check before you charter a boat that the skipper has oxygen on board and an assistant. Come on skippers - wise up!
John Rapley, Kingston & Elmbridge BSAC


Anyway, I would like to make a poll, to see what you as divers think.