WASHINGTON (31 August 2007) -- The Coast Guard needs to increase training, enhance guidance and better oversee equipment and personnel to avoid accidents such as the one aboard the icebreaker Healy on Aug. 17, 2006, that killed two divers, according to a report on the accident dated Aug. 23 and made public six days later. The report recommends that, if the Coast Guard decides to continue staffing its dive program with its own members, the service consider making diving a primary duty, and establishing a Coast Guard working diver program, perhaps with divers who have taken the Navy Diver Second Class course. It also recommends that the service certify more dive officers. The report advises that Headquarters program officers to set clear guidance for units conducting dive operations, ensuring that divers remain certified and their equipment is inspected and maintained. The report also says the Coast Guard should institute better policies and procedures for conducting dives. The recommendations in the report, called "Chief of Staff's Final Decision Letter on the Analysis of a Class A Mishap: USCGC Healy," will not be implemented until a team chartered to study the Coast Guard's dive program recommends whether the service should maintain its own program or contract it out with a civilian agency or another military service. "The applicability of the corrective actions is contingent on the overarching need to determine the requirement," wrote chief of staff Vice Adm. Robert Papp in his letter. The results of the study team, made up of Navy divers and other dive experts, are pending, according to Coast Guard officials. The Coast Guard's dive program came under fire following the Healy incident when subsequent investigations showed that Navy and Coast Guard diving procedures were ignored during the exercise. Immediately after the accident, the service instituted a number of changes to its dive program, including a safety standdown, review and inspection of all dive units, suspension of dive operations on Healy and implementation of a study module at the commander's course regarding diving. | | Lt. Jessica Hill surfaces during a dive. She and Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Stephen Duque died last year during a training dive off the icebreaker Healy. click.  View larger imageIf implemented, Papp's recommendations could lead to the establishment of a Coast Guard master dive program. A spokesman for Dawn Zimmerman, the mother of one of the divers who died, said the family is grateful the Coast Guard has been thorough with its investigations and planned changes. "The family's primary concern is that the tragedy of Aug. 17, 2006, never be repeated," wrote Bill Eby, a relative of Lt. Jessica Hill, in an e-mail Wednesday. "The family appreciates any and all steps taken by the Coast Guard to assure the safety and well being of others who may follow in Jessica's responsibilities and duties." SOURCE - Day Tipper, Navy TimesSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba ForumCDNN Related NewsWASHINGTON - Coast Guard report blames Healy diver Jessica Hill for deathsWASHINGTON - Coast Guard captain scuttled in wake of diver deathsALASKA - Two Coast Guard divers drown during Arctic science missionWASHINGTON - Still no answers five weeks after deaths of U.S. Coast Guard diversWASHINGTON - Scathing report on fatal dive: USCG divers died as crew partied |
