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Continuing with Carey Connor's direct. Holy crap these are boring to write.
Directing your attention back to today’s case, you said that you were called at 1300, what time did Lee Allen go missing?
1115 hours
And what time did you arrive?
1430
And after you arrived at 1430, what did you do?
I interviewed Hayden Hathaway, the owner of Neptune Underwater Expeditions, Casey French, the dive leader on July 7, Reggie Rodgers, Neptune’s lead instructor and Lee Allen's dive buddy on the 7th along with a handful of Neptune customers and employees.
What did you learn from your interviews that helped you come to your conclusion in today's case?
Several things. First, HH had checked the weather approximately 12 hours before the dive and had seen that a storm was coming. The storm was also confirmed by Casey French, who identified storm clouds before the diver but took no action. Second, that Lee Allen dived without any dive buddy. Neptune modified the buddy system, allowing Lee Allen to dive with Mr. Rodgers instead of his regular dive buddy. Third, both RR and said HH, “Lee Allen was no better or worse than all other divers” and “before July 7, no one from Neptune had any concerns about Lee Allen’s diving ability”.
Why is the fact that Neptune employees like Ms. Hathaway and Mr. French were aware that a storm was coming before the dive important?
Neptune officials' decision to continue the dive with the knowledge that a storm was impending was highly irresponsible.
Why do you say that?
Because no one should be diving in such a storm. This sort of weather means poor visibility and strong currents, which can easily cause problems for even the most experienced divers.
What did this mean for Lee Allen?
Based on my review of the case, I believe the storm was one of the contributing factors in Lee Allen's death.
How about the second piece of information, that Neptune modified the dive buddy system. Why is that important?
The buddy system is one of the most important tenets of diving safety. By modifying the system, Neptune placed Lee Allen at risk.
What is the buddy system?
The buddy system means that every diver has an assigned buddy, and the two buddies watch out for each other.
Can anyone be anyone’s buddy?
No, divemasters, dive leaders, or any other sort of instructor cannot serve as a dive buddy. That's because they have a responsibility to look after the safety of the entire group, which would be compromised if they were assigned to a specific diver as a buddy.
And how exactly did Neptune modify the buddy system On July 7, 2011?
Two modification to the buddy system had deadly results on this day. First, Neptune allowed Reggie Rodgers, the diver master, to be Allen's dive buddy. Second, while underwater, Mr. Rodgers allowed Lee to proceed alone. These were both huge violations that ultimately led to Lee Allen's death.
Did Neptune violate any other diving rules?
Yes, they broke the depth limit for recreational divers and they had divers who weren’t qualified for a wreck diving in them.
How did they break the depth limit?
Well the absolute depth limit for recreational divers is 130 feet below the surface and the Hepburn ranges from 170 to 190 feet below the surface. So they were taking these divers 40-60 feet below where they should have been.
And you talked about wreck dives earlier, what sort of qualifications do you need for them?
Well, for wreck and cave dives you need special training and an advanced cave diving certificate (Scuba Diving 101 says you need “specific training” for caves and wrecks, so I just made the certificate up) in order to deal properly deal with the added dangers of being in an enclosed space.
And I'm still not done. I probably should cut some info.
Directing your attention back to today’s case, you said that you were called at 1300, what time did Lee Allen go missing?
1115 hours
And what time did you arrive?
1430
And after you arrived at 1430, what did you do?
I interviewed Hayden Hathaway, the owner of Neptune Underwater Expeditions, Casey French, the dive leader on July 7, Reggie Rodgers, Neptune’s lead instructor and Lee Allen's dive buddy on the 7th along with a handful of Neptune customers and employees.
What did you learn from your interviews that helped you come to your conclusion in today's case?
Several things. First, HH had checked the weather approximately 12 hours before the dive and had seen that a storm was coming. The storm was also confirmed by Casey French, who identified storm clouds before the diver but took no action. Second, that Lee Allen dived without any dive buddy. Neptune modified the buddy system, allowing Lee Allen to dive with Mr. Rodgers instead of his regular dive buddy. Third, both RR and said HH, “Lee Allen was no better or worse than all other divers” and “before July 7, no one from Neptune had any concerns about Lee Allen’s diving ability”.
Why is the fact that Neptune employees like Ms. Hathaway and Mr. French were aware that a storm was coming before the dive important?
Neptune officials' decision to continue the dive with the knowledge that a storm was impending was highly irresponsible.
Why do you say that?
Because no one should be diving in such a storm. This sort of weather means poor visibility and strong currents, which can easily cause problems for even the most experienced divers.
What did this mean for Lee Allen?
Based on my review of the case, I believe the storm was one of the contributing factors in Lee Allen's death.
How about the second piece of information, that Neptune modified the dive buddy system. Why is that important?
The buddy system is one of the most important tenets of diving safety. By modifying the system, Neptune placed Lee Allen at risk.
What is the buddy system?
The buddy system means that every diver has an assigned buddy, and the two buddies watch out for each other.
Can anyone be anyone’s buddy?
No, divemasters, dive leaders, or any other sort of instructor cannot serve as a dive buddy. That's because they have a responsibility to look after the safety of the entire group, which would be compromised if they were assigned to a specific diver as a buddy.
And how exactly did Neptune modify the buddy system On July 7, 2011?
Two modification to the buddy system had deadly results on this day. First, Neptune allowed Reggie Rodgers, the diver master, to be Allen's dive buddy. Second, while underwater, Mr. Rodgers allowed Lee to proceed alone. These were both huge violations that ultimately led to Lee Allen's death.
Did Neptune violate any other diving rules?
Yes, they broke the depth limit for recreational divers and they had divers who weren’t qualified for a wreck diving in them.
How did they break the depth limit?
Well the absolute depth limit for recreational divers is 130 feet below the surface and the Hepburn ranges from 170 to 190 feet below the surface. So they were taking these divers 40-60 feet below where they should have been.
And you talked about wreck dives earlier, what sort of qualifications do you need for them?
Well, for wreck and cave dives you need special training and an advanced cave diving certificate (Scuba Diving 101 says you need “specific training” for caves and wrecks, so I just made the certificate up) in order to deal properly deal with the added dangers of being in an enclosed space.
And I'm still not done. I probably should cut some info.
