Posts after a fatality

[Mike P]

I am sure we all hate to hear of any fatality, especially diving related ones. My thoughts like many other people, go to the friends, relatives and family left behind.
Perhaps selfishly I wonder what lessons I can learn from the incident.
What I feel uncomfortable about is when individuals write posts such as ... "saying prayers, this is bad, thoughts to the family" etc etc.

What is that all about?
I bet there is not a diver or even a "non diver" who would not echo those thoughts.
So why do the few, feel the need to post such things ? Is there any point ?

Asbestos jacket going on

[RogerViking]

to show support.
as supposed to not showing support to relatives and family.

[Buoyant Babe]

Originally Posted by Mike P

I am sure we all hate to hear of any fatality, especially diving related ones. My thoughts like many other people, go to the friends, relatives and family left behind.
Perhaps selfishly I wonder what lessons I can learn from the incident.
What I feel uncomfortable about is when individuals write posts such as ... "saying prayers, this is bad, thoughts to the family" etc etc.

What is that all about?
I bet there is not a diver or even a "non diver" who would not echo those thoughts.
So why do the few, feel the need to post such things ? Is there any point ?

Asbestos jacket going on

Hmm, let me see now. Perhaps it's because, having heard of a fatality, some of us want to express concern at this bad thing and to say that people are in our thoughts and, if so inclined, our prayers? I believe it's called empathy and compassion or summat like that. It's something I find a great strength in YD.

I'm more uncomfortable that at the announcement of a death people would want to pick it to bits immediately to 'learn' from it. There's a time and a place, although I agree we should learn.

Why shouldn't people show their concern? What and odd question

[Kevin Heath]

I lost a good friend Rob down in Cornwall and his Partner took great comfort in what was written on the forums about him, I guess its a bit like sending a card to the family.

Kevin

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by Mike P

I am sure we all hate to hear of any fatality, especially diving related ones. My thoughts like many other people, go to the friends, relatives and family left behind.
Perhaps selfishly I wonder what lessons I can learn from the incident.
What I feel uncomfortable about is when individuals write posts such as ... "saying prayers, this is bad, thoughts to the family" etc etc.

What is that all about?
I bet there is not a diver or even a "non diver" who would not echo those thoughts.
So why do the few, feel the need to post such things ? Is there any point ?

Asbestos jacket going on

I am of a similar mind......of course we must feel sympathy for those left behind .... but of greater interest to me is the why and how can it do we stop it happening again.

The difficulty with that is that if the incident was caused by a poor decision or competence level of the diver then that makes very hard reading for the family and friends .... and is probably why the other approach is taken. It would also be very very difficult to get an unbiassed factual account of the incident, especially where a fatality occured.

Mal

[milldog]

Originally Posted by Mike P

I am sure we all hate to hear of any fatality, especially diving related ones. My thoughts like many other people, go to the friends, relatives and family left behind.
Perhaps selfishly I wonder what lessons I can learn from the incident.
What I feel uncomfortable about is when individuals write posts such as ... "saying prayers, this is bad, thoughts to the family" etc etc.

What is that all about?
I bet there is not a diver or even a "non diver" who would not echo those thoughts.
So why do the few, feel the need to post such things ? Is there any point ?

Asbestos jacket going on

Green set to off set all those reds

human nature is that it's a better them than me so people put comments personally i don't say anything unless i know them.

however if i die due to my cock up i want Mal or whoever is at the top of the rep list to red blob everyone who says he was a good lad, my thoughts etc. we all have to go sometime and when your numbers up there sod all you can do about it

Graham

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Kevin Heath

I lost a good friend Rob down in Cornwall and his Partner took great comfort in what was written on the forums about him, I guess its a bit like sending a card to the family.

Kevin

I understand that answer .....
You had a personal link and likewise other posters did. So I can imagine the comfort it must have brought to his partner.
A nice thing to do.

[Jay_Benson]

[quote=Mal Bridgeman;935436]The difficulty with that is that if the incident was caused by a poor decision or competence level of the diver then that makes very hard reading for the family and friends .... and is probably why the other approach is taken. It would also be very very difficult to get an unbiassed factual account of the incident, especially where a fatality occured.

The other problem with picking the incident to pieces is that the information that is available in the immediate aftermath is liable to be, at best, poor and riddled with inconsistancies. It is better to sit back and learn the real lessons from the incident in a fuller context. My understanding that this is the basis for the BSAC incident report thingy.

[the_negligent_snail]

Originally Posted by Kevin Heath

I lost a good friend Rob down in Cornwall and his Partner took great comfort in what was written on the forums about him, I guess its a bit like sending a card to the family.

Kevin

I think this sums it up quite well and as we are all divers, we share a common bond. OK, we may not have known the deceased well or at all, but to offer support in some way perhaps is like saying "there but for the grace of God..."

To be honest though, I dont actually post on these threads; I probably dont know the diver or the family and feel that there are others who do have a closer relationship than I whose words of sympathy offer more than I can.

I am interested in the incident and would like to take what I can from it but I feel there is a time and a place for that as well and it is not on the thread announcing the incident.

[charliet]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

I am of a similar mind......of course we must feel sympathy for those left behind .... but of greater interest to me is the why and how can it do we stop it happening again.

The difficulty with that is that if the incident was caused by a poor decision or competence level of the diver then that makes very hard reading for the family and friends .... and is probably why the other approach is taken. It would also be very very difficult to get an unbiassed factual account of the incident, especially where a fatality occured.

Mal

Unfortunately, in this country, many divers would prefer another diver to lose his or her life than any FACTS that might also amount to criticism of the dead diver being made available on a site like YD.

Yes, it's very sad for family and close friends when a diver dies but surely the lessons of the fatality should be made available to try and ensure that the same mistake(s) are not made by the next diver, if at all possible.

We all benefit from being reminded about safety and procedures, especially those of us using rebreathers.