PSDarchives.diveinsurance

Dive Insurance

5-19-02

Does anyone have or know of any type of dive insurance that is availible
for PSD or commercial diving? I do some "light" commercial work such as
inspections and would like some info on insurance plans. I am a PADI
instructor and have insurance for teaching and I also have DAN's Master
plan. I don't think either of these would cover me.
Maybe the question I should be asking is if insurance is even
nessesary for this type of work (PSD & light commercial diving).

Thanks for any input.

David

5-19-02

David , I have the following suggestions for you. Insurance is extremely important
and to a commercial diver who has invested in proper training and
equipment to do "light work and inspections". You should contact the Association
of Diving Contractors International, Inc. @ www.adc-usa.org
PADI has adamantly stated that any recreational certification
(including instructor) does not qualify you as a commercial diver or a
PSD.

good luck
W.H. BEAL

5-20-02

You will also discover the insurance coverage is not inexpensive even if
you do qualify for the ADC program. My office handles several marine
contractors, and we have found there are few alternative sources
(Insurance Markets) for the coverages.

Richard C. Traina

5-20-02

Not to even mention that if you are being paid to do this work you will have
to follow 29 CFR 1910 subpart "t" for commercial diving regulations.
Chuck
NCURT

5-25-02

You said it yourself, you have no commercial dive training. Need anything
else be said? Any Instructor looking to be a "better diver" as you have
humbly suggested, would leave the commercial diving for properly trained
divers.
Good luck with your diving career,

Remembering that there is always room for good advice in this world,

Shawn Todd

5-25-02

Hartford Insurance handles reasonably priced workers comp insurance, JW Fisk
does Liability, take a look at http://www.isr-insurance.com
Do visit http://www.adc-usa.org

Inland/inshore commercial dive training can be had at: Inland Commercial
Diver Training: http://www.mndiving.com/
and the Santa Barbara City College: http://www.sbcc.net/
The above will give the quickest/most affordable training.
Most other commercial schools are just "tender mills" for the oil industry.

Get used to the idea of needing to make $75 - $125 per day just to cover
basic overhead.

5-26-02

I had concerns of Insurance several years ago. A question I had was, will
our department Insurance cover us on any mission? The answer is yes, as long
as we operate within our Mission Statement and SOG's.
    Florida is not a OSHA State so I made contact with the Florida Department
of Labor. The FDL supervisor made a date and we met at my office. He was
carrying a copy of OSHA CFR1910. The scary part of this was he had a set of
Guidelines to follow but had no PSD experience or knowledge. After spending
the day with him I realized our SOG's were written by PSD's for PSD's. When
read by a Non-Diver their perception of the SOG may differ, this could cause
unnecessary problems.
    We rewrote our SOG's keeping in mind that Non Diver types will be
reading them. Then presenting them to our department Attorney for his
opinion. Then our Insurance Rep. and finally signed into our SOG's by the
Sheriff. After listening to the feed back from them (all Non-PSD's) and their
perception of the SOG's we felt the task had been accomplished. Now we feel
secure that should we have a problem and we are operating by our SOG's we are
covered.
    We are a Search and Recovery Team. We search for and recover victims
from underwater, evidence of crimes, and conduct underwater investigations.
Any deviations from our SOG's must be documented in our dive team log along
with a copy of all reports from other divisions and agencies involved. We
don't do recoveries of non law enforcement related incidents. We do not
directly receive or accept monetary rewards. Any donations must be sent to
the Sheriff and disbursed from there. This may seem extreme but is an attempt
to remain PSD and not fall into the commercial field.
    The best SOG's does not mean you will not have a problem, but by having a
good self explained SOG and then following them makes our Job much easier.

Sgt. Grady Prather
Flagler Co. Sheriffs Office
Bunnell Fl.

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