Warner -v- Scapa Flow Charters Court Case: Successfully overturned

Three senior judges in the Court of Session, Scotland have overruled the Opinion of Lord Sandison issued on 3 September 2021.

Dive Industry News and Matters

Scotland's highest civil court published their Opinion of the Court on 10 May 2022, and ruled that fault or neglect on the part of Scapa Charters "is not established".

The Opinion states "The Lord Ordinary wrongly concluded that walking in fins represented an unacceptable risk...The inference drawn by the Lord Ordinary was unreasonable. The divers' unchallenged evidence made it clear that putting on fins and then walking to the exit point was almost invariable practice.

The Lex Warner case continues a sad trend

A diver wearing heavy equipment stumbles on the deck of a dive boat. In the fall a stage cylinder valve hits his abdomen and he sustains a blunt force trauma. He falls to the deck. After getting back on his feet, the diver makes a positive indication to the boat crew that he wishes to continue and dive. He enters the water. But only few minutes into the dive he becomes distressed and loses consciousness. He cannot be resuscitated.

Lex Warner, John Chatterton, Richie Kohler, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, stage cylinder, Scapa Flow, Scotland, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine, scuba diving news, CCR fatality
Dive Industry News and Matters

On 14 August 2012 Lex Warner was about to conduct a technical dive off the Scottish coast. He was diving a rebreather and bailout stages and whilst he was crossing the deck of the dive boat, he stumbled, fell forwards and landed heavily on the deck. He went down on his knees, then onto his hands, before rolling onto his side and finally onto his back. Having been helped back to his feet by the boat’s crew, Lex Warner was reported to have expressed frustration and annoyance at himself for falling.

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