Professional Association of Diving Instructors - Criticism

Criticism

PADI is oftentimes subject to criticism. In particular, two accusations are sometimes made against the organization: that it "dumbs down" scuba diving training courses, making them too short and easy; and that it "profiteers" from demand for diver training.

In 2006 PADI was severely criticized by a Coroner's court in the United Kingdom for providing what experts regarded as short and insufficient training. No representative of PADI gave evidence at the inquest, but PADI subsequently issued a rejoinder that in the decade since PADI had come to play a dominant role in diver training, the numbers of diving accidents had declined. Although PADI training standards differ from those formerly prevalent in the United Kingdom under the BSAC system, PADI training standards are consistent with World Recreational Scuba Training Council standards.

It should be noted that critics of the WRSTC maintain that these standards are not, in fact, a set of standards that all member organizations must live up to, but are, in reality, just a "worst common denominator" of the standards that had been already independently adopted by the member organizations. In other words, the WRSTC standards were "reverse engineered" to conform to what already existed, and in that respect, they are so low that they serve no useful purpose.

Although PADI is often referred to facetiously as a mnemonic for 'Put Another Dollar In', PADI is a for-profit organization dedicated to generating commercial returns from diver training. Some say that the large number of competitor diver training organizations, prevent PADI from realistically being accused of market abuse, while others maintain that PADI's dominant position in the industry makes such profiteering inevitable.

A third criticism that is sometimes made is that PADI over-elaborates the training process, leading to the award of large numbers of different certificates, certification cards and embroidered patches for any diver who continues their diving education up to advanced levels. For instance, divers can earn a "boat diver" specialty certification. For many divers, boat diving is a common occurrence that does not require the special, costly course that PADI may appear to convince novice divers they do need. This criticism is further supported by PADI's elimination from their entry level course of what some authority's feel are critical skills such as buoyancy control, gas management and diver rescue, and the movement of such topics and skills into separately priced products such as the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Course.