We’ve heard it time and again: be sure to pick the best dive buddy possible. Your dive buddy is there to help see you through in the event of an emergency, and you’re there to do the same for him or her. In the past, a dive buddy’s responsibility to his or her partner was considered to be mainly a moral obligation; today, we know that dive buddies also have legal liabilities toward one another.
Dive Buddies and Responsibility
More often than not, your preferred dive buddy is also a good friend or a family member – maybe he or she is also your spouse, sibling, parent, son, or daughter. If you are unaccompanied on a dive holiday, your buddy is likely to be someone with similar qualifications and preferences to your own; however, regardless of the relationship you share, each of you has basic responsibilities toward one another. These include:
- Creating and executing a safe dive plan
- Checking equipment before diving and monitoring it throughout the dive
- Sharing air in the event a buddy runs out
- Untangling your buddy if necessary
- Staying near your buddy
- Getting to the surface together in the event of an emergency
Before entering the water, you and your buddy must always discuss certain points which facilitate safer diving and aid in better underwater communication:
- Entering the water
- Following a certain course
- Timing the dive
- Determining whether to follow tables or computers
- Any specific goals for the dive – things one or both of you wants to see and/or do
- Review signal for out of air situation
- Determine exit points
These conversations might seem pointless or redundant to some, but eliminating them from your routine can open you up to greater liability in the event your buddy succumbs to an accident.
There are some who argue that buddy diving is no safer than solo diving and some have had such awful experiences that they believe it’s better to rely on oneself for self-rescue than it is to depend on a buddy who is incompetent or irresponsible. After all, if your buddy panics and you’re supposed to save him or her, or if you have an accident and he or she panics, there’s no way you can rely on one another. Some buddies have a tendency to wander off, and others fail to plan or don’t follow plans which have been made. Still others just don’t communicate while underwater. This being said, these are exceptions and the better relationship you share with a dive buddy topside, the more effective a team you’ll be likely to make underwater.
Dive Buddy Negligence Lawsuits
Though the liabilities of dive buddies are often covered by laws written with negligence in mind, there are very few cases which make it to court. There are a number of reasons why divers and/or their surviving relatives do not typically sue dive buddies. These include:
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In most cases, the dive buddy is someone the victim knows, and purposeful neglect didn’t play a role in the incident
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In law, when something happens due to collaboration, all involved parties share liability; not just a single party
Buddies can be sued or considered legally responsible for negligence, and suits can also be filed for breach of duty. Legal experts have noted that despite a buddy’s incorrect actions or failure to act, cases are rarely contested and won even when breach of duty can be proven, since other aspects of cases can be difficult or impossible to prove, particularly in cases in which the victim is no longer living and cannot testify on his or her own behalf.
Defendants in these cases typically argue that their actions did not cause any kind of breach of duty; and, even if it did, they did not cause injury. Nearly everyone recognizes that scuba diving is a sport with inherent dangers, and much of the time, there are no witnesses to the actual accident or incident which is being described as negligence. These two basic facts are often used to the defendant’s advantage in legal cases.
When dive buddies are sued successfully, a pronouncement of “guilty” usually occurs due to one or more of the following causes:
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A buddy takes a less experienced diver into a situation he or she is not properly trained and/or equipped for; taking an open water diver into a cave or a wreck would be an example of this
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Buddy refuses to share air without obvious cause
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Buddy provides misinformation about his or her level of experience
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Defendant has provided incorrect information about a dive site or environmental challenges
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The defendant gave false information about equipment or gas used
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A buddy takes a less experienced diver into an overly challenging environment with polluted water, low visibility, extreme depth, or other problematic issues
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Defendant takes victim into a very cold environment event though victim is not wearing proper exposure suit
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Buddy ditched weights of fellow diver unnecessarily, leading to harm via air embolism, DCS, striking a vessel, etc.
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Defendant failed to return primary regulator while buddy breathing
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Buddy took risks by playing foolish games such as turning out the lights on a night dive or low visibility dive
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Defendant was under the influence of alcohol or narcotics
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Defendant intentionally harmed victim by pushing and shoving, pulling equipment, etc.
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Negligent buddy pulled victim down while victim was attempting ascent
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Buddy was intentionally negligent even though victim was in an obviously dangerous situation
In the event you’re assigned a buddy you don’t know, follow your gut instincts. If you dislike that diver’s attitude or feel unsafe for any reason, it’s best not to dive with him or her; after all, this is easier than getting out of a problematic situation during the course of a dive.
Many divers prefer to dive with a larger group or team to decrease the potential for harmful one on one interactions that might occur intentionally or unintentionally. This way, if someone has a problem, there are two or more potential rescuers on hand.
Now that you’re better informed about dive buddy liability, work with your own dive buddy or buddies on becoming the most effective team possible. Communicating well underwater, planning your dive and diving your plan, creating a plan for reuniting if separated, and looking after each other are all ways to stay safe and enjoy your dives better.