Overheard a foreman say 'dive tables are for rookies' and I had to walk away

I was gearing up at the dock in Port Fourchon last Tuesday and this old timer goes 'dive tables are for rookies, I just know when it's time to surface'. I bit my tongue but man, that attitude gets people bent. One coworker I know ended up with a DCS hit because some cowboy skipped the surface interval. Why risk your neck to save 15 minutes on a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_martinez4d ago

Jumping off what @umar59 said, how do you even start to undo that kind of conditioning in a crew that's been running on shortcuts for years? Is it even possible without a serious accident first?

mark_price20d ago

Oh man, that's the kind of thinking that gets people killed, not just bent. I see the same shortcut attitude everywhere now, not just on the water but at work, on the road, even in people's personal budgets. Everyone thinks they're the exception to the rule until the rule catches up with them. It's like skipping the safety check on a forklift because you've done it a hundred times, or texting while driving because you're a good driver. Fifteen minutes never saved anybody anything in the long run, but it sure can cost you everything.

umar5920d ago

Yo but the real kicker nobody's talking about is how this shortcut mindset spreads like a cold. You keep skipping things and getting away with it, your brain literally rewires to think that's the normal way. It's not just about that one time you almost got caught, it's that after enough close calls you stop feeling the danger at all. Like the whole "it won't happen to me" thing becomes part of who you are. So when the moment comes where you really need that safety step, you won't even think to do it because you've trained yourself out of the habit. That silent conditioning is way scarier than any single bad decision.