BSAC 2005 accident report released

[String]

(emphasis added)

Oops to solo diving being safer...

My guess is that these cases outnumber the double fatalities by a factor of five or more.

Oh dear. That really isnt what you want to see in a supposedly well audited statistical report.

 

[bwh6]

(emphasis added)

Oops to solo diving being safer...

Of those 19 solo deaths, 11 were on dives to 50m+, including 6 on rebreathers. One additional dive was shallow(er) on a rebreather, one was in a cave, and two were post-dive bounces (i.e. 500psi tanks) to recover gear or unset anchors. That leaves 4 vanilla recreational OC solo deaths. There are an unfortunate number (didn't count) of deep and/or rebreather buddy dives that led to deaths.

Correlation does not imply causation (basic statistics): if dives that are intrinsically more dangerous are also more likely to be performed solo, you can get a correlation between solo diving and deaths but it doesn't mean solo diving has any impact on safety.

(I do believe that solo diving is more dangerous than buddy diving, though I happily do most of my dives solo)

Brian

 

[bradshsi]

Correlation does not imply causation (basic statistics): if dives that are intrinsically more dangerous are also more likely to be performed solo, you can get a correlation between solo diving and deaths but it doesn't mean solo diving has any impact on safety.

It's true that the correlation does not prove 100% that solo diving is more dangerous.

However to suggest that intrinsically more dangerous dives might be performed more often solo seems rather counterintuitive to me. It could equally be the case that intrinsically less dangerous dives might be performed more often solo due to the higher perceived risk by the diver.


Whatever the reality is, it seems to me that we cannot easily extract it from the statistics in the report.

When this situation comes up in other fields such as economics, the general rule is to assume "ceteris paribus", until such time as data is available to indicate otherwise. If we apply such a rule in this instance the conclusion would still be that solo diving is less safe.

Oh and many thanks to String for posting the report. It made for very interesting reading.

 

[String]

Generally here at least you find the more complicated/deeper the dive the more chance of it being solo be it open or closed circuit. You tend to find each diver on his own gas mix, own deco schedule, own limit of risk and hopefully fully self sufficient performing deeper dives.

Given this and the fact these dives are riskier id be more amazed if solo DIDNT have a high than normal accident rate.

 

[Irobot]

I think I,m right i concluding that of the 400+ incidents 300+ were BSAC Divers ?

Does anyone know if thats a fair representation of % divers BSAC to the other training orgs ? It seems very high 75% BSAC, does that mean 75% of dives in the UK were by BSAC divers?

Not trying to knock BSAC in any way here at all !!!! I think its good for them to publish facts like this !!

Do any other training orgs publish figures ? I,d be interested to find out if they do !!

What is the BSAC course like , I,ve heard its very comprehensive but I dont know anyone who has completed it ?

Do you think that UK diving is more dangerous than other areas ?

 

[isurus]

I think I,m right i concluding that of the 400+ incidents 300+ were BSAC Divers ?

Does anyone know if thats a fair representation of % divers BSAC to the other training orgs ? It seems very high 75% BSAC, does that mean 75% of dives in the UK were by BSAC divers?

Not trying to knock BSAC in any way here at all !!!! I think its good for them to publish facts like this !!

Do any other training orgs publish figures ? I,d be interested to find out if they do !!

What is the BSAC course like , I,ve heard its very comprehensive but I dont know anyone who has completed it ?

Do you think that UK diving is more dangerous than other areas ?

most uk divers are not bsac, most who dive in the uk are.
its more comprehensive than the PADI course imo
uk probably more dangerous than most tropical destinations: cold, low viz, can be strong current.

 

[Irobot]

Would you recommend that I train with BSAC for diving in the UK ? I did my OW with PADI earlier this year in KOH TAO Thailand ! But the stats that BSAC published worry me !!

I guess with BSAC they know more about british waters right ? I,m very new to diving I only have 10 dives including my training & would really like some advice

 

[DameDykker]

Irobot

You (and everybody else) is certified for the conditions where they learned to dive. Britten (and Denmark) is something else. Low visibility, cold water = thick wet/dry suit = more weight, hood gloves etc. At the very least get some local introduction. It's ussually quite a shock to a new diver. You'll learn but remember: It's a different game.

For a start try imagening to do a mask removeal and replacement with a 5mm hood and 5mm 3-finger gloves in 5 dec C water? (Current conditions here)

 

[dbulmer]

Irobot,
BSAC reports are for UK divers of all agencies - BSAC,PADI,SAA etc etc.
BSAC/SAA training is good for UK conditions and give you one additional benefit in that you'll find it easier to find buddies

There are PADI clubs but I don't honestly know how they work.

 

[HowardE]

I think it's interesting how in this report from BSAC, that it doesn't include data on time between dives (<1 month, <1 year, >1 year, >2 years, etc) whereas the DAN data has that mapped out, and it seems that in their report, the greatest number of accidents is from divers who don't dive frequently, but have "skills"