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Cave diving is a type of technical diving that uses specialized SCUBA equipment to navigate through natural and artificial caves. These caves are filled partially or completely with water and require specialized training and equipment to swim through the tight spaces. Given the level of difficulty in cave diving, it is much less practiced than other types of technical diving.
Although there are added risks when cave diving, the risk comes with many great rewards. Because divers have a chance to look through unexplored areas, cave diving is utilized by cavers and speleologists and give these divers an opportunity to experience new elements in the underwater world. Cave diving offers one of the few remaining chances to literally be the first person to ever see a place on this earth.
One element that makes cave diving extreme is that divers cannot swim directly to the surface in case of an emergency. Instead, divers often have to navigate a labyrinth of passage ways to return to the surface.
With these obstacles, cave diving is considered to be one of the most dangerous sports in the world. In fact, there have been several divers, including many instructors, that have lost their lives when participating in cave diving.
Many experts argue that the cave divers in these scenarios were either untrained or did not have the advanced equipment required for this sport. With the proper training, experience and equipment, many divers agree that cave diving can be done in a safe manner.
There are five general rules that have been taken from the 1977 book Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival. The five rules include:
1) Training – Cave specific dive training is learned in many different segments, with hands-on experience to accompany it.
2) Guide Line – A guide line is maintained between the diver team and a fixed point with direct access to the surface.
3) Depth Rules – No diver should exceed the depth plan of the gas mixture, which is responsible for the majority of cave diving deaths.
4) Air Gas Management – Divers follow the rule of thirds in which 1/3 of the gas supply is used for ingress, 1/3 for egress and 1/3 to support another team member in the event of an emergency.
5) Lights – Cave divers must utilize their own sources of light consisting of at least three lights.
Attorney Alton Hall is an experienced cave diver, recipient of the Wakulla Award for cave diving excellence and a cavern diving instructor. Since we cannot always control the fate of our dives, Delise and Hall is available to assist divers with their legal rights.
Image c/o Dive-n-log
Ken Uhl a 16 year old resident of Buffalo Grove, Illinois was killed in a scuba accident Saturday. The accident occurred during a dive conducted by the Boy Scouts of America Venturing program. Steve Taylor executive director of the Northwest Suburban Council of the Boy Scouts reported that the teenager was first noticed to be missing during a safety stop near the end of the dive which was taking place in the Haigh Quarry near Kankakee Illinois. Kankakee is about an hour south of Chicago. The dive was being conducted by two adults supervising six teenagers participating in the Venturing program.
Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner performed an autopsy Monday morning. Results of that examination as well as an examination of the scuba equipment have not been released.
Scuba safety expert and attorney Alton Hall said that the tragedy was all too common a scenario especially common with new divers. “First and foremost our thoughts and prayers are with the family. Unfortunately we will not know what caused this accident until an independent investigation is conducted by experts not affiliated with the parties involved.” Mr. Hall’s law firm, Delise & Hall located in New Orleans Louisiana, investigates diving accidents worldwide. “We have seen many cases in which the family is never provided a satisfactory answer simply because evidence is lost or inadequately tested.” Hall a dive instructor whose legal practice focuses on recreational, public safety and commercial diving accidents recommended that the family act quickly to assure that critical evidence is not lost. “Unfortunately many medical examiners are not aware of the specialized protocol necessary to determine the cause of death in diving cases”. He also cautioned that the gear needs to be examined as quickly as possible to insure that gas samples are not lost and that environmental factors do not alter the state of the gear. “Often we are testing gear that has been locked in an evidence locker for months by which time the gas in the scuba cylinders has been lost, the regulator screens have rusted and dive computer batteries have died.” “It is also important that the family utilize investigators trained in forensics as opposed to relying on the local dive facility.”
Uhl was a student at Buffalo Grove High school.
Many people seem to understand that legal proceedings can be very complicated when a seamen is injured on the job. But have you ever read why there exists such a unique set of rights as well as remedies for workers classified as “seamen”?
Legal matters involving injured seamen fall under the maritime law, which differs substantially from traditional laws as they relate to employer liability or personal injury cases. These maritime laws have evolved over the years into what is now known as the Jones Act.
Read our new article Rights & Remedies of Injured Seamen where you will learn more about this subject including:
- Background of the Jones Act
- Maintenance and cure
- The differences between seamen, longshore workers and harbor workers
- Shipowner liability
- Seaworthiness
- Rights and remedies under the Jones Act
What started out as a routine training dive for a scuba class on May 19th turned into a tragic accident for Shari Booth, a college student from Washington.
Booth, age 19, was a marine biology major at Walla Walla University in Washington. She took part in a NAUI Advanced Scuba course with a group of 11 fellow students near the University’s Marine Research Center at Rosario Beach when she went missing on Monday afternoon.
The course was organized by the university, who operates a marine research center at the same site where the accident happened.
A spokesperson for the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office said Booth was diving with a “buddy” and other divers in the class at a depth of nearly 40 meters (130 feet). The instructor was not in the water.
Officials immediately started on a search and rescue operation that included both Navy and US Coast Guard personnel. After two days of searching without any signs of Booth, the operation was suspended.
Walla Walla University held a Student Celebration of Life for Shari Booth on Wednesday, May 28, in the University Church. A memorial service was also held Saturday, May 24, at the Meadowglade Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battleground, Wash.
The university has asked for prayers for Booth and her family, and a blog has been created with photos and information which can be viewed here: http://rememberingshari.blogspot.com
The Law Firm of Delise and Hall has been retained as counsel for the family and will help conduct a thorough investigation into the incident. Delise and Hall have unique qualifications in the area of recreational and commercial diving litigation with more than 25 years experience handling diving related matters worldwide for injured divers and their families.
A recreational diver from San Diego was found dead off Mission Beach, California after being abandoned at the dive site by the chartered dive boat following a guided dive tour to a popular dive site on September 13, 2010.
Robert Michael Clampitt, 48, of City Heights was among 14 divers aboard a trip to the Yukon, a former Canadian naval vessel sunk off Mission Beach near San Diego to create what is now a popular diving reef.
According to local authorities, Clampitt failed to return to the surface and his absence was not noticed by the divemaster or vessel captain. When the dive boat arrived at another location, a passenger noticed that the man was missing. That’s when the boat turned back and authorities were called to help find him.
According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office Clampitt was later found by San Diego lifeguard divers on the ocean floor, submerged about 100 feet below the surface and about 30 yards on the west side of the Yukon. Clampitt was pronounced dead despite efforts to save his life by the lifeguards and paramedics.
The law firm of Delise & Hall has been retained to represent Mr. Clampitt’s family and investigate the incident. Delise & Hall has more than 25 years of experience in diving related litigation. If you have questions pertaining to this case or can provide information that may help please contact attorney Alton Hall at 985-249-5915.
Commercial diver injured in underwater explosion wins $4.35 million settlement
Summary:
An underwater explosion during a routine dive resulted in debilitating injuries to a commercial contract diver preventing him from pursuing a livelihood this way in the future. The lawsuit filed on his behalf against his employer was settled for $4.35 million dollars in light of the negligence of his employer to properly plan the dive.
Case Details:
A commercial saturation diver recently settled his lawsuit for more than $4 million against his employer after an underwater explosion resulted in major injuries to the diver. Saturation divers are a highly skilled and trained class of divers who can stay underwater on deep dives for long periods of time, up to twelve hours.
The diver in question was investigating a platform that had capsized and sunk during Hurricane Katrina. In the course of that process, he lit a torch designed to burn underwater. The torch exploded when it came into contact with gases that had accumulated on the underside of the platform.
As a result of the explosion, the 31-year-old sustained considerable injuries including a burst eardrum, pneumothoraces to his lungs, injuries to his central nervous system as a result of decompression, and several other shock-related damages. Although he was earning a daily wage of $1,250 at the time of the accident, as a result of his injuries he is now completely disqualified from returning to his former line of work, commercial diving. He is now pursuing an education in construction engineering.
The diver sued his employer for negligence in planning the dive improperly and ignoring the standards that would have reduced the likelihood of an accident of this nature. Although the defendant denies this negligence, the lawsuit was settled in the diver’s favor for $4.35 million dollars.
Diving accident results in $1 million settlement after diver’s air system fails
Summary:
During a routine dive, a 39-year-old diver with nearly twenty years of diving experience came very close to dying after the air system failed to function properly. A lawsuit was filed on the diver’s behalf under the Jones Act for negligence on the part of the diver’s employer. The lawsuit was settled in the defendant’s favor for just over one million dollars.
Case Details:
During a routine dive, a 39-year-old diver with nearly twenty years of diving experience came very close to dying after the air system failed to function properly. The experienced diver suffered physical injuries as well as emotional stress due to an equipment malfunction. South of Chauvin, Louisiana, the 39-year-old diver was approximately fifteen feet under water when the air supply system on the surface of the water malfunctioned.
The diver came very close to drowning as a result but was revived using CPR and rushed to a hospital in the New Orleans vicinity. Although he has largely recovered, lingering neurological problems and post traumatic stress disorder will keep him from returning to his work as a commercial diver.
The diver filed a lawsuit against the ship’s owner, claiming that the owner’s negligence in maintaining the air supply system renders the boat unseaworthy. General maritime law in the United States holds employers and ship owners responsible for maintaining a seaworthy vessel. Additionally, he filed a lawsuit against his employer under the ones Act for improperly maintaining the air system.
The employer and the boat’s owner refuted the suit, saying that the experienced diver should have been prepared with his back up air supply, referred to as a “bail-out-bottle” by diving aficionados. However, the suit was settled in the favor of the diver for $1.05 million dollars.
Incorrect diagnoses leads to $850,000 settlement for diver suffering from decompression illness and heart condition
Summary:
An incorrect medical diagnoses lead to an $850,000 settlement for a commercial diver suffering from decompression illness and a heart condition. If the condition had been properly diagnosed the diver may have been able to prevent further injury. However, because he continued to work at the direction of the employer he developed a heart condition along with neurological complications from the decompression illness prevent him from resuming his work as a diver.
Case Details:
When a commercial diver felt ill after surfacing from a dive, he sought the guidance from his supervisor. The supervisor along with an EMT who was consulted about the diver’s symptoms concluded that he was suffering from a virus, either flu-related or intestinal, and recommended that the diver be transported to a hospital on land so as not to infect any of the crew on the barge.
Upon arriving at the New Orleans hospital, the diver was re-diagnosed with decompression illness, possibly complicated by a congenital heart condition. As the decompression illness had gone so long without treatment, the diver now suffers from neurological complications that, along with the heart problem, will prevent him from returning to his work as a commercial diver as he has now been labeled as medically unfit to do so.
The diver filed lawsuits against both his own employer and that of the EMT who made the incorrect diagnosis. The first lawsuit is filed under the Jones Act because of planning negligence on his employer’s part and failure to administer emergency recompression treatment as called for under the U.S. Navy’s emergency medical protocol. The lawsuit against the EMT sites negligence due to the incorrect medical evaluation by the EMT.
Although both defendants denied the allegations and placed the fault on the diver for improperly reporting his symptoms as well as on the heart condition, the lawsuit was settled in the diver’s favor for $850,000.
