divemaster course

[narc]

hi currently at padi rescue diver,i'm considering doing the padi divemaster course.have my own boat shared with one other we go diving most weekends and sometimes dive with another friend and my son, very rarely we will take out somebody who has contacted me looking for a dive,where do i stand legally if something dire went wrong? if some other diver comes with us am i resposible if i was a dive master? by the way i do not charge the other divers for coming out on the boat so not a commercial set up,
thanks

[dlegros]

Whilst you are not charging, if anything ends up in court, you are likely to be held to a higher standard of diving and more "expert" duty of care as you carry a professional cert.

If you are involved in an incident, the Bolam test may be used to judge your actions (the "reasonable man" test). If you are a rescue diver, your actions would be compared to a diver at that level, as a DM it would be other DMs.

My LDS always advises staff of all levels to make it very clear that we are not acting in capacity as a DM/AI etc. and to not sign someone's log as a DM unless that is what you have been doing.

Dom

[chrisch]

Why do the DM? If you want to improve your diving its time to leave PADI (even if you go to DSAT..) If you're going down the OWSI route then maybe its time to charge for the diving and make a business out of it.

If the latter then you need the insurance etc. and by default you are responsible. There are plenty of skippers on YD that will give you some good advice.

Chris