Recovery diver dead, two others injured searching for body - North Carolina

[rkinder]

Bob, in this case North Carolina has a state OSH agency that will investigate. I would suspect we will see a Niosh report in that it was a PSD-FF on duty death. But you are right it will take a while. NC OSH covers public sector employees which puts them ahead of the FED. which does not. I know they have been working on PSD regulations but it has stalled this may cause them to push thru the regulations. But at least a real investigation report will be generated we can learn from.

 

[Storker]

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[Pixelator]

Any new info on this incident?

 

[Lead_carrier]

WBTV just released the findings on the S & R diver, Bradley Long, that drowned in June. He had been doing a search, with a buddy, at 82 feet for about 14 minutes. As they were surfacing Long ran out of air. Apparently the other diver wasn't able to assist Long and another diver went into the water but his mask was leaking so bad he had to abort. All their gear was found to be in working order. OSHA and some other agencies are still investigating.

 

[JohnnyC]

14 minutes at 82 feet and went OOG? Wow. Either he had a tank that was WAY too small, or he torched through his air like he was a hard hat diver. If that's the case, I'm wondering what caused such a high respiratory rate.

Increased respiratory rate can be caused by several things, but the timeframe sounds more and more like bad gas. If PPCO spiked through the roof as he got to depth, that would do it. I hope they put the compressor through the ringer during the investigation, and I wonder if they tested for elevated CO in his bloodstream.

Even if it turns out to be something else, just talking about it is a good reminder to ALWAYS analyze your gas.

 

[Subcooled]

14 minutes at 82 feet and went OOG? Wow.

Have you ever done physical work or sports?

The air consumption probably only was twice the air consumption at rest. Work hard and the gas will be gone.
Reading an SPG every now and then is a good idea, but what if you can't even see your nose?

A tragic accident nevertheless.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Freeflow?

ps: gear can test fine afterwards.

 

[DandyDon]

It's always a good idea to test tanks for CO, and I do wonder how often postmortems and equipment checks test - but I see no actual indications here.

WBTV just released the findings on the S & R diver, Bradley Long, that drowned in June. He had been doing a search, with a buddy, at 82 feet for about 14 minutes. As they were surfacing Long ran out of air. Apparently the other diver wasn't able to assist Long and another diver went into the water but his mask was leaking so bad he had to abort. All their gear was found to be in working order. OSHA and some other agencies are still investigating.

In this news video: EXCLUSIVE: Investigation reveals how firefighter Bradley Long drowned in Lake Norman
It's also said that the first two divers lost their masks during the OOA phase, along with the third diver having significant mask problems. I have to wonder of experienced these divers were, in particular with their masks.

 

[JohnnyC]

Have you ever done physical work or sports?

The air consumption probably only was twice the air consumption at rest. Work hard and the gas will be gone.
Reading an SPG every now and then is a good idea, but what if you can't even see your nose?

A tragic accident nevertheless.

14 minutes at 82 feet to go OOG isn't a little physical work, that RMV is up there around hard hat guys crankin' on a half meter long wrench at the bottom of the North Sea. If these guys were working that hard then something was wrong from the get go.

The more details that come out, the more it seems like these guys weren't prepared for whatever was going on.

 

[pumpkinhead]

It's always a good idea to test tanks for CO, and I do wonder how often postmortems and equipment checks test - but I see no actual indications here.


In this news video: EXCLUSIVE: Investigation reveals how firefighter Bradley Long drowned in Lake Norman
It's also said that the first two divers lost their masks during the OOA phase, along with the third diver having significant mask problems. I have to wonder of experienced these divers were, in particular with their masks.