Safe SCUBA Diving?
4 Mar 07
Perry Tong (forwarded by Kelvin Wong
SAFE Scuba Diving?
Yes, it is possible.
Feel I have to add my share of spiel to the recent scuba diving related accident nonsense that's been raging in the press the previous week. Its not old and it'll happen again.
1. Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) contains inherent risks like most sports do. The risks levels are increased because of one's dependency on compressed air* in a virtually airless environment (underwater in other words). It is otherwise no more dangerous then roller blading or bicycling in my opinion.
* not oxygen as most people including our oh so credible press likes to believe and thus misleading everyone else into believing the same. btw, i have written in to ST before to correct this error but to no avail. If one breathes pure oxygen (100% O2) as implied by the term 'oxygen tank' then one would suffer from oxygen toxicity by suffering a central nervous system convulsion (your brain goes kaput) at a depth of around 5 to 6 metres depth .... and you die.
Basic scuba courses take you down to 18M, advance courses typically around 30M, specialty courses to 40M and technical courses down to 150M (but you look like a christmas tree going diving at this level).
2. It is ridiculously cheap to learn scuba diving in Singapore given the unethical levels of competition for the consumer dollar. Plain mathematics alone will tell anyone who investigates that intro scuba courses following PADI, NAUI or SSI guidelines are almost impossible to perform when including a weekend trip to nearby Malaysian islands. SGD $400 per student does not even really make break even for the week's operations not to mention the running costs of an actual dive shop in sky high priced Singapore. But this level of being 'unethical' is due in large part to consumer behaviour as we all well know. Besides having the two words 'business' and 'ethics' usually does not make sense in a sentence or a paragraph unless it is descriptive like this is.
3. Based on point 2 above one 'way out' is through economies of scale. Most scuba certifying bodies have an instructor student ratio of 1:8 in very controlled conditions (very shallow water with no current or in a pool). A smaller ratio of conditions are not so stable/suitable. Some 'scuba schools' in Singapore exceed this since there is no regulatory body nor can there be one everywhere where scuba diving is possible (basically anywhere where you can haul your gear & tank and where there's water).
Ratios exceeding 1:8 typically require a certified assistant. The former part of 'certified assistant' is usually questionable.
rest of the article here >
Yes, it is possible.
Feel I have to add my share of spiel to the recent scuba diving related accident nonsense that's been raging in the press the previous week. Its not old and it'll happen again.
1. Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) contains inherent risks like most sports do. The risks levels are increased because of one's dependency on compressed air* in a virtually airless environment (underwater in other words). It is otherwise no more dangerous then roller blading or bicycling in my opinion.
* not oxygen as most people including our oh so credible press likes to believe and thus misleading everyone else into believing the same. btw, i have written in to ST before to correct this error but to no avail. If one breathes pure oxygen (100% O2) as implied by the term 'oxygen tank' then one would suffer from oxygen toxicity by suffering a central nervous system convulsion (your brain goes kaput) at a depth of around 5 to 6 metres depth .... and you die.
Basic scuba courses take you down to 18M, advance courses typically around 30M, specialty courses to 40M and technical courses down to 150M (but you look like a christmas tree going diving at this level).
2. It is ridiculously cheap to learn scuba diving in Singapore given the unethical levels of competition for the consumer dollar. Plain mathematics alone will tell anyone who investigates that intro scuba courses following PADI, NAUI or SSI guidelines are almost impossible to perform when including a weekend trip to nearby Malaysian islands. SGD $400 per student does not even really make break even for the week's operations not to mention the running costs of an actual dive shop in sky high priced Singapore. But this level of being 'unethical' is due in large part to consumer behaviour as we all well know. Besides having the two words 'business' and 'ethics' usually does not make sense in a sentence or a paragraph unless it is descriptive like this is.
3. Based on point 2 above one 'way out' is through economies of scale. Most scuba certifying bodies have an instructor student ratio of 1:8 in very controlled conditions (very shallow water with no current or in a pool). A smaller ratio of conditions are not so stable/suitable. Some 'scuba schools' in Singapore exceed this since there is no regulatory body nor can there be one everywhere where scuba diving is possible (basically anywhere where you can haul your gear & tank and where there's water).
Ratios exceeding 1:8 typically require a certified assistant. The former part of 'certified assistant' is usually questionable.
rest of the article here >
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