Pearl diver dies in Broome

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

To answer your comment; the 4 Corners programme is produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC for short). It is a purely government funded entity ... It's focus can be on the "little man" (you could say) with what, at times, can be considered determental reporting towards big business and the government. It is not uncommon for people in this country to accuse it of being the "left wing media" if they see reports, editorials or general news reports that do not appeal to them.

On the flip side people also accuse the ABC of going too easy on topics if people find that they don't completely agree with the coverage.

Irrespective of which side they take, they took a side nonetheless. Their attribution is horrible, as is their selective hearing when it came to interviewing concerned parties. Aside from diving, I am media savvy, having contributed as a stringer, location scout and producing difficult shots.

That episode was clearly determined beforehand, they would create a sensational report, likely as a rating scheme. To release an attack such as this whilst an ongoing investigation is pending is despicable and underhanded.

Have you seen the comments on Paspaley's Facebook page? They disgust me. Clearly the producers incited hatred and outgrage for the sake of entertainment. I even saw a string of posters crying "BLOOD PEARLS!!" Give me a F'n break... I wonder how many people are killed on agricultural farms annually. I bet it's a lot. Do you suppose we should be calling them Blood Apples?

I spent 9 years in the West Australian pearl industry. 4 of them as a drift diver.

Which is why I am happy to engage you on this matter, so I may better understand the inner workings of that type of dive system.

I'm providing my point of view to Dave's comments. While he has had numerous years in commercial diving, he hasn't, as far as I know been drift diving on the 80 Mile Beach.

I don't doubt Dave's experience as a commercial diver but unless you've experienced drift diving then I don't think you can extrapolate one from the other.

Fair enough, but likewise the opposite is true. Thousands of Aussies don't know the first thing about any of this either, yet their outrage seems to trump the common sense of those involved.

Commercial diving is like aviation in many aspects. Simply because I never landed in Location X, does not mean I cannot land there safely sometime in the future, because the rules are all the same. From my standpoint or investigation, there is nothing unique in the 80 Mile Beach drift system.

Oxygen is carried on board. It is used on those dives when staging at 10 metres is required. Considering that a trip to sea averages 8 days then yes there is more than enough carried onboard.

Good. So you'd agree there is a considerable level of safety there?

Rough days for a diver isn't something to be too concerned about. After all you are underwater away from the swell.

It's more the deck crew that have it bad.

With respect to air evac people have to realise how remote the areas in which the boats go drifting are. In choppy weather there's no way a sea plane can land. Also access to an easily excessible air strip can be problematic.

I was thinking more on the lines of a helicopter. Seaplanes have a lot more difficulty on open water landings and cannot fly "nape of the earth" to minimize the effects of altitude on injured divers.

You have four years as a drift diver. That's enough time in the water to get a feeling for the industry as a whole. Obviously, you felt it was reasonably safe and profitable otherwise you might not have returned, am I right?

 

[Nerida]

I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Hampton family, and thank them for their input onto this forum.

I haven't commented for a week or so - I am not a diver, but have had many of my years as a physiotherapist working in Occupational Health - advising government, industry, and insurers alike. Australia's workplaces are generally extremely well regulated to ensure the safety of workers - both to prevent injury, and in the rescue/remediation post injury. My 'take' on what is currently in place in the pearling industry, particularly from the point of view of rescue knowledge, procedures, equipment and training, is that it is pretty light-on. For Dave to comment that a standby diver is regulation in Canada, yet we have heard the Pearl Producers' Association here say that it is 'not deemed necessary' gives further weight to this thought.
Stimulating discussion here, and hopefully the 4Corners report will do just that - stimulate further discussion which may prompt industry change to prevent further tragedy. It doesn't seem as if Pas has done anything illegal, or in contravention to existing law, but perhaps, as Mary has pointed out, the regulations need to be amended.
Here in Sydney, again, as Mary has said, a boy tragically lost his life in a senseless, unprovoked, single act of violence last Saturday night. The overwhelming grief and loss expressed by the boys' parents as they have faced endless media interviews in the past few days has sparked enormous debate, addressing critical points such as public safety and policing in city 'hotspots'. They (the parents) have also become advocates for organ donation. Speaking out, inciting debate - these are the things which can evoke changes which can save lives. I truly applaud the Hampton family for speaking to 4 Corners.

 

[Nerida]

I just received the link to the online, weekly version of our monthly Australian Jeweller magazine. Quoted from the email, I will post the link separately to the main story:

It was a week of more, more, more! After being on the wrong end of an ABC Four Corners investigation about its workplace practices, pearling company Paspaley found itself in more trouble over the way it managed its social media marketing after the TV program.

Paspaley’s Facebook page, which promotes the company’s pearl jewellery range, was inundated with dozens of critical comments, many of which were quickly deleted, raising more anger about the way the company was perceived to be reacting.

 

[Nerida]

http://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article.aspx?id=2526&h=Backlash-to-Paspaley-silencing-social-media-critics

 

[Honey_and_Lemon]

On the question of if AED's should be required.

NOAA Working Diving Standards and Safety Manual. (Which covers working (e.g not scientific) diving conducted by NOAA employee's or Non-NOAA personnel performing working dives under the direct supervision of a NOAA Divemaster (DM) or Lead Diver (LD) (e.g contractors)).

http://www.ndc.noaa.gov/pdfs/NWDSSM_version 1.0.pdf

5-2 Pre-Dive Requirements

5.2.7 Emergency Equipment and Supplies

C. Automated External Defibrillator (AED). An AED shall be available at the dive site, when practical, and only operated by trained personnel.

So unless it was deemed to be impractical (No space for it, no place to lay out the diver on a dry blanket so the AED can be used), you would be expected to have an AED available.

 

[Honey_and_Lemon]

Ragnorak,

I think the best line of inquiry is about how the dive was conducted before the emergency occurred rather than on the response after the emergency, including on if decedent was qualified to be diving and the schedule of work that being performed etc. The actions that lead up to a potential catastrophe are in the employers hands, the response is partially in their hands with respect to having the resources and intention and ability to respond to the emergency.

 

[pearlescence]

Folks, I really think we should stop hypothesising on this and that and everything for now. We were not there and we don't know what happened. We are guessing from hearsay reports from an apparently spun TV show.

Jumping to conclusions and shouting about how something must be done achieve nothing.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

We are guessing from hearsay reports from an apparently spun TV show.

Correct, we were not there.

This is a pearl forum, for us to discuss issues related to pearls and the pearl industry. We have a contributor to this thread who has experience in the operation and I'm eager to learn more. I apologize if I sound overly technical or indifferent. I'm not trying to be either. If anything, this discussion could go a long way to fulfilling the concerns of the Hampton family and hopefully bring some closure to a very sad event.

There were however, some very serious allegations levelled on national television against the pearling industry, the crew of the vessel and it's divers that must not stand uncontested. Clearly, these were not spearheaded by the Hampton's but over-zealous reporters.

I watched the video a third time today and a couple of points really stand out that were not discussed here.

There were comments during the episode and on Facebook condemning the skipper of the vessel for not stopping as opposed to slowing down. Stopping a vessel at sea will almost immediately cause it to turn to the wind. With divers still in the water, the vessel will invariably drift uncontrollably over the air lines or they become tangled. In all likelyhood, the captain used the minimum speed necessary to maintain control into the tide and protect the remaining divers.

Forgive me for getting emotional for a moment, but one point 4 Corners made was particularily hurtful. They claimed the boat didn't have a defribillator, but carried body bags. The body bags were on one, but probably another vessel. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In fact, if you are a commercial diving company and have equipment readily at hand, chances are you'll be asked to do recoveries at some time or other. I have been on these recoveries, more than once and I shouldn't need to explain the seriousness of it or what it does to a person thereafter. Moreover, available commercial divers invariably step up without expectation other than the desire to return remains to their loved ones, that they may have closure, but what 4 Corners did in that context was despicable and egregious.

 

[Honey_and_Lemon]

I'm sure that the Australian Coroner or OSHA equivalent will conduct an impartial investigation. The pearl industry in Australia is growing, and its growth/profitability should not come at the cost of worker safety. One legitimate question would be how Paspaley's operation compared to current Australian/World best practices.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

 

[Marianne]

David, I truly appreciate your perspective on this very sad story.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I am attaching a post from Facebook. The bolding is mine, which alludes to what I've been suggesting.

"As a former drift diver it was both disturbing and saddening to hear of the tragic loss of life on the Paspaley 2 in April. It is with the utmost respect to the young man and his family and friends that i am posting this comment. Drift diving is a tough job. You have to love it, you have to love the sea and you have to love getting in the water, there is an element of danger, certainly an aspect that draws competitive young men to the job. The safe diving practices of today are a result of improvements made in the industry over the past 100+ years, particularly in the last 35- 40 years since the implementation of hookah drift diving. To suggest that Paspaley does not care about their employees is incorrect, the company that my colleagues and I worked for is a compassionate and caring company that held the welfare of it workers as the highest priority. Entering the water was never forced on any diver. Every day, every dive, you made a conscious decision that you were getting in the water with sharks, stingrays, irukandji, box jelly fish, cone shell, lion fish, dream fish and that was your work environment , the effects of repetitive diving also deserve a mention risking the bends,pulmonary barotrauma, inner ear barotrauma, sinus squeeze, salt water aspiration and chaffing. Why did we get in the water? Because we trusted the system that has been developed over the past 40 years without tragedy, to say this is dumb luck is absurd, the people I worked with were common sense professionals with respect for their job and their piers, with this, a diver must realize that there is an element in his or her job where they must take responsibility for their actions. There are times under the ocean where the only person who can save you is you. No matter what practices are implemented this will always be an element of drift diving. It is impossible to understand the operations of a drift diving vessel without experiencing it first hand, the four corners program that was aired during the week will give you a small insight but fails to paint a complete picture. The vessel must maintain forward momentum during the drift and while the divers are decompressing to avoid the air hoses and work lines being sucked into the propeller, the propeller does not cut hoses it winds them up, divers are connected to air hoses. Flying is not recommended after diving, if there is an ailment such as decompression illness or inner ear barotrauma the effects will be exacerbated due to the fluctuation in air pressure, generally it is not hard to hold onto your work line while drifting, divers are extremely fit and strong and you would never harness yourself to it for obvious reasons. the deckhand is the spare diver,he cannot enter the water without a wetsuit due to the stingers, to have him/her in full kit on deck in 35 degree heat and humidity is not safe work practice in itself. Divers do sometimes let go of their work line if they come across a patch of shell and it is possible to pull yourself up the air hose and find your work line. If a divers big bag is to heavy to swim to the inside line or the visibility is bad the diver can parachute it up the shot line this is a common sense decision made by the diver. Paspaley is a great Australian success story that my colleagues and I are extremely proud to be a part of. I sincerely hope this tragic accident doesn't ruin the reputation of a respectful family and industry leader in every respect. I know whose boat I'd be on." Will Triggs.

 

[Mary Montpezat]

I am attaching a post from Facebook. The bolding is mine, which alludes to what I've been suggesting.

"As a former drift diver it was both disturbing and saddening to hear of the tragic loss of life on the Paspaley 2 in April. It is with the utmost respect to the young man and his family and friends that i am posting this comment. Drift diving is a tough job. You have to love it, you have to love the sea and you have to love getting in the water, there is an element of danger, certainly an aspect that draws competitive young men to the job. The safe diving practices of today are a result of improvements made in the industry over the past 100+ years, particularly in the last 35- 40 years since the implementation of hookah drift diving. To suggest that Paspaley does not care about their employees is incorrect, the company that my colleagues and I worked for is a compassionate and caring company that held the welfare of it workers as the highest priority. Entering the water was never forced on any diver. Every day, every dive, you made a conscious decision that you were getting in the water with sharks, stingrays, irukandji, box jelly fish, cone shell, lion fish, dream fish and that was your work environment , the effects of repetitive diving also deserve a mention risking the bends,pulmonary barotrauma, inner ear barotrauma, sinus squeeze, salt water aspiration and chaffing. Why did we get in the water? Because we trusted the system that has been developed over the past 40 years without tragedy, to say this is dumb luck is absurd, the people I worked with were common sense professionals with respect for their job and their piers, with this, a diver must realize that there is an element in his or her job where they must take responsibility for their actions. There are times under the ocean where the only person who can save you is you. No matter what practices are implemented this will always be an element of drift diving. It is impossible to understand the operations of a drift diving vessel without experiencing it first hand, the four corners program that was aired during the week will give you a small insight but fails to paint a complete picture. The vessel must maintain forward momentum during the drift and while the divers are decompressing to avoid the air hoses and work lines being sucked into the propeller, the propeller does not cut hoses it winds them up, divers are connected to air hoses. Flying is not recommended after diving, if there is an ailment such as decompression illness or inner ear barotrauma the effects will be exacerbated due to the fluctuation in air pressure, generally it is not hard to hold onto your work line while drifting, divers are extremely fit and strong and you would never harness yourself to it for obvious reasons. the deckhand is the spare diver,he cannot enter the water without a wetsuit due to the stingers, to have him/her in full kit on deck in 35 degree heat and humidity is not safe work practice in itself. Divers do sometimes let go of their work line if they come across a patch of shell and it is possible to pull yourself up the air hose and find your work line. If a divers big bag is to heavy to swim to the inside line or the visibility is bad the diver can parachute it up the shot line this is a common sense decision made by the diver. Paspaley is a great Australian success story that my colleagues and I are extremely proud to be a part of. I sincerely hope this tragic accident doesn't ruin the reputation of a respectful family and industry leader in every respect. I know whose boat I'd be on." Will Triggs.

Dave, I'm afraid that IMO wild-frontierism such as some of this (partially interesting) tract has no place in the modern industrial world. People who "freedive" privately for pearls - or are simply running their own business - are in a different category from employees ...

 

[pearlescence]

Like I said, time to leave this thread. It is starting to get nasty
As to risky jobs and health and safety....I once asked the chief test pilot for the Eurofighter Typhoon programme about his health and safety. He snorted and said that if he listened to health and safety extremists no-one would fly, let alone him.
It is generally reckoned that each new plane costs at least one test pilot. Their ambition is to retire.
People of a certain character take risky jobs. They assess, do what they can (or have it done for them) to engineer the risks out of the job and then go do it.

 

[Mary Montpezat]

Pearlescence I am tending to agree! How sad especially in this context.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Dave, I'm afraid that IMO wild-frontierism such as some of this (partially interesting) tract has no place in the modern industrial world. People who "freedive" privately for pearls - or are simply running their own business - are in a different category from employees ...

The first part doesn't make any sense, so I'll just ignore it.

As to the second part, you do realize shell divers are contractors, not employees? Right?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Is what you are actually saying, that everyone else should stop the discussion?

Deja vu, Mary.

How is this any different from your PM, suggesting I leave this thread?

 

[Mary Montpezat]

The first part doesn't make any sense, so I'll just ignore it.

As to the second part, you do realize shell divers are contractors, not employees? Right?

I'm not an industrial expert, but the Australian Government takes a dim view of quasi contractors - e.g. if people are only contractors by name, but treated as employees (one main marker would be equipment being supplied (er, such as a boat!). So while you or I might like to regard a diver as a contractor, the authorities here could well differ and classify them as employees ... however, I don't know what the on-the-water sitch is for pearl divers, so they may well be fully "contractors". Duty of care provisions may well over-ride such distinctions in any case, I would think. It does sound like it, from the doco.

I'm surprised that Paspaley are deleting rather than responding to comments on their Facebook page - I wonder what strategy they are applying to their crisis communications.

 

[Mary Montpezat]

Deja vu, Mary.

How is this any different from your PM, suggesting I leave this thread?

It's pretty bad form to post PMs without clearance, but I actually feel I have to in this instance, because this is some misrepresentation! I suggested to you - offline out of courtesy - that any posts responding to the bereaved parent should perhaps be softened with condolences (clearly they might feel sensitive to disagreement or any sense that they were "leading" the Four Corners investigation) - I made no mention whatsoever of anyone leaving the thread!

 

[Ragnorak]

Irrespective of which side they take, they took a side nonetheless. Their attribution is horrible, as is their selective hearing when it came to interviewing concerned parties. Aside from diving, I am media savvy, having contributed as a stringer, location scout and producing difficult shots.

With what you've quoted me on it's not about what side 4 Corners have taken. My comments were with regards to how dismissive people in this country can be of the ABC as being "left wing journalists". Especially if they don't like the way something has been reported.

Again I agree with the main assertion of the report as to how a situation can come to pass that 5 out of 8 dives on a boat have never drifted before.

The years I was working in the industry Paspaley used to take on 1, 2 or perhaps at most 3 "green" divers per boat per season.

That episode was clearly determined beforehand, they would create a sensational report, likely as a rating scheme. To release an attack such as this whilst an ongoing investigation is pending is despicable and underhanded.

The ABC (the producers of the 4 Corners report) don't really need ratings. They are a purely government funded entity. I've mentioned this fact before. They (the ABC) have fought in the past to maintain their independance from the government and any other outside interest.

And as I have said they have been called to task over some of their reports but that's been few and far between considering the 4 Corners programme has been airing for 40 years.

Have you seen the comments on Paspaley's Facebook page? They disgust me. Clearly the producers incited hatred and outgrage for the sake of entertainment. I even saw a string of posters crying "BLOOD PEARLS!!" Give me a F'n break... I wonder how many people are killed on agricultural farms annually. I bet it's a lot. Do you suppose we should be calling them Blood Apples?

I haven't read Pasapley's Facebook page. And I don't see how any comments on said page relate to any discussion here.

Fair enough, but likewise the opposite is true. Thousands of Aussies don't know the first thing about any of this either, yet their outrage seems to trump the common sense of those involved.

Perhaps you should reconsider the above comment, when you consider that your outrage seems to trump my common sense of drift diving.

Commercial diving is like aviation in many aspects. Simply because I never landed in Location X, does not mean I cannot land there safely sometime in the future, because the rules are all the same. From my standpoint or investigation, there is nothing unique in the 80 Mile Beach drift system.

You can't be serious. I wouldn't compare drift diving to commerical aviation. But to answer your analogy just because you've worked in one sector of commercial aviation it doesn't necessarily mean you'd know how to work or are qualified to work in another sector.

Good. So you'd agree there is a considerable level of safety there?

I never said there wasn't a considered level of safety. Oxygen is used on dives that require a safety stop. The company I worked for, used the current (at the time) US Navy dive tables. But how good is the sector related training overall. Can you tell me this? And what does it teach to account for so many new to the industry divers ending up on one boat?

I was thinking more on the lines of a helicopter. Seaplanes have a lot more difficulty on open water landings and cannot fly "nape of the earth" to minimize the effects of altitude on injured divers.

Yeah cause helicopters can land on choppy seas? But seriously I have said that the 80 Mile Beach is an isolated area. What if a helicopter can't land close enough to a reasonably accessable area? Vehicular transport can be hours away in that case.

And there's no way a helicopter can cover the entire area that the boats fish on the 80 Mile Beach.

You have four years as a drift diver. That's enough time in the water to get a feeling for the industry as a whole. Obviously, you felt it was reasonably safe and profitable otherwise you might not have returned, am I right?

I was paid $4 a shell in the mid 1990s. It seems that until the drift season before this incident the Paspaley divers where being paid $4.50 a shell. Then they were offered $3.50 per shell.

For the money I was getting paid at the time, yes it was worth it, but the dive season wasn't the only thing keeping me with the company I was working for. They did provide me with employment after the diving season, so....

 

[Ragnorak]

Ragnorak,

I think the best line of inquiry is about how the dive was conducted before the emergency occurred rather than on the response after the emergency, including on if decedent was qualified to be diving and the schedule of work that being performed etc. The actions that lead up to a potential catastrophe are in the employers hands, the response is partially in their hands with respect to having the resources and intention and ability to respond to the emergency.

That's what I have been saying.