Quote: (Originally Posted by
MarcLaukien)
If somebody fakes certification cards, and shows complete incompetence, and then an accident happens, do you really think that any court in the world would overrule the waiver he had to sign? Do we perhaps soon need cert cards with biometric data and a central registry with fingerprints before somebody is allowed to dive?
From debates about this on other lists a few years ago, I remember that this is one of those interesting differences between the UK and the US. Here in the UK, as I understand it, if the Dive Centre asks you to state your qual on a form or verbally and you lie, you are liable. If they check your cert card and it is fake, they are liable, as they didn't spot it. So, in my experience, apart from actually buying gas, I am never asked to show my quals.
Quote:
Also, isn't there a danger that more people will start faking their certs and lie about their logged hours, because resorts don't accept the certs they already have? For example, I could probably have sneaked into Cobalt by simply making up a false dive log for my HH CCR, thereby circumventing the idiotic rule that my logged hours reset to zero after switching from the Optima to the HH.
Bingo - I am sure that it does happen. How would anyone be able to verify your log anyway, even if they tried?
I can understand your pain. It's very frustrating and I do believe that, while it has some merits, the cert approach past Mod 1 is flawed and likely/certain to lead to abuse. If it's objectives are to improve safety, then it must be revised.
Cheers,