Mohammed Tasleen Iqbal

Recommendations. In the light of the evidence which emerged in the course of this Inquiry I was invited to make a number of recommendations: I do not make certain of those recommendations because, in my opinion, they went further than was appropriate for the scope of a Fatal Accident Inquiry and impinged on wider issues relating to the conduct of the recreational diving industry as a whole. I now set out the recommendations which I considered it appropriate to make but I have set out at length in this note the full text of those other recommendations in order that those involved in recreational diving should be aware of the issues raised in the Inquiry. My recommendations are :- • that regular checks to identify known potential defects in the operation of pressure gauges should be carried out at regular intervals and that the carrying out of such checks should be documented in appropriate service records . • that persons or organisations involved in the hiring of diving equipment should carry out checks on regulators prior to every transaction of hiring out to ensure that inhalation resistance pressures and all parts of regulators capable of adjustment are within manufacturers specifications before being issued for hire : that the fact of such checks , the result , the date on which they were carried out and the identity of the person carrying out the check should be recorded in appropriate documentation. It will readily be appreciated that this activity relates to the provision of life support equipment to the public and there is a real public interest in ensuring that standards are observed in the maintenance and servicing of that equipment. • That persons or organisations involved in the hiring out of diving equipment should maintain reliable systems to record the number of occasions on which individual items of equipment are hired out: that persons to whom such equipment is hired should be required to complete a record of the number of dives on which the equipment was used during the period of hire. If that information is not provided hire centres should assume that not less than two dives per day occurred during the period of hire. • That a means of unique visual identification and which is visible from distance be carried by each diver on his hood and that such unique identification should form part of the dive log retained by the Divemaster or other supervisory person who remains on shore. • That in the course of any dive in which more than two persons participate, the dive supervisor or, if not appointed, the dive leader, be responsible for a formal headcount on the divers surfacing to ensure the immediate integrity of the group of persons participating in that dive.