Death v # of Divers and Scuba Oversight

[KenGordon]

I am still looking for current statistics. Why don't they put them out any more? Is there an organization besides DAN that does this type of report? The only current info I can find is in the accidents and incidents reports on SB. If you read through those you might come away with the idea that everyone dies of natural causes.

You can read UK centric numbers here:

Annual Diving Incident Report - British Sub-Aqua Club

To put them in perspective the annual diving death count is about the same as one day's road deaths.

Since the number of dives performed is unknown it is hard to draw any conclusions about how safe diving is compared to any other activity.

 

[flots am]

So what does the scuba industry to do prevent deaths like those mentioned in the last paragraph?

All these people were monumentally stupid. The best thing to do for diver safety would be to publicize the hell out of it, perhaps like the cigarette label warnings. Every ad showing some cute young woman SCUBA diving in clear blue water with pretty fish should have a black box that explains how one dumbass or another removed himself from the gene pool.

The only possible exception would be the rebreathers, although given my understanding of them, those fatalities would have been impossible if the pre-dive procedures had been followed, so they would qualify under the "dumbass" category too.

flots.

 

[RJP]

I am still looking for current statistics. Why don't they put them out any more?

Who is "they"?

 

[Storker]

You can read UK centric numbers here:

Annual Diving Incident Report - British Sub-Aqua Club

That's a pretty good read. I'm my club's safety officer, and I've used those numbers for my diving safety presentations before. They're quite illustrative.

 

[Rich Keller]

Who is "they"?

I was referring to DAN.

 

[DaleC]

One problem is that diving is controlled by both an individual and an industry. No regulation is going to effect my outcome when I am soloing in an isolated locale.

I also read that there is no government regulation of diving in the US. Will someone please tell the municipal council of Edmonds so I can solo in one of the most benign spots for that activity in the PNW. Because, apparently I can solo in Deception Pass but not there.

 

[dmaziuk]

No they won't.

Healthcare accounts for 17% of the gross domestic product in the US. $3 trillion dollars annualy... and that's just direct costs. The amount of money involved in diving is less than the rounding error on the sales tax on gauze pads. No money... no bureaucratic interest.

Wrong again. Bureaucrats are not free market, either. If there is financial incentive, lobbyists may get politicians involved, who in turn appoint bureaucrats to do their thing. However a far more likely scenario is a public outcry meet a wannabe public figure in search of a cause. Political capital is not directly dollar money, so the amont of dollars involved doesn't matter.

 

[TSandM]

DaleC, there's an easy answer! Just contact the Seattle GUE contingent when you want to dive Edmonds

 

[scagrotto]

I saw a post elsewhere online claiming solo diving isn't allowed the in Caymans; I don't know the original reference to support that.

That seems to be a common belief. As far as I know there is nothing in Caymanian law prohibiting solo diving, and the supposed prohibition is based on the Water Sports Operations Guidelines promulgated by the Cayman Islands Tourism Association. AFAIK, membership, and therefore compliance, is voluntary. Section 12 is about unguided wall (which means deep) dives from boats, and paragraph B. says "Operators may elect to allow customers to do unsupervised wall dives with their buddies. It is recommended [my emphasis] they meet the following criteria (there are 4):
1. The divers must show proficiency at the member’s discretion.
2. The divers must dive in a buddy team and each member of the team must have a computer and understand computer diving techniques.

The first part of B implies that you can only go without a DM if you're with a buddy, though the next bit seems to say it's only recommended that divers "must dive in a buddy team".

Paragraph D is about unguided shallow dives, and says "supervision is at the discretion of the individual member."

There doesn't seem to be even a suggestion that the dive op should require diving with a buddy for shallow dives. There's also nothing that says a buddy is necessary for shore diving, regardless of depth.

My only personal experience goes back to the days when dive ops could chose to belong to the Cayman Islands Watersports Operators Association. I can't speak to what any particular dive op would do if you tried to go unguided and solo today, though I had no trouble when my wife sat out an afternoon dive back in the days of the Cayman Islands Watersports Operators Association.

You can find all of the "safe diving standards" here:
Safe Diving Standards | Cayman Diving, Dive Caribbean | Dive Cayman

No money... no bureaucratic interest.

Maybe in your dreams. Pretty much every bad law that was ever written started when just one idiot had a bad idea. Most of those bad ideas die without becoming an official statute or regulation, but plenty of them make it all the way. Here's an example of each to go along with the story that somebody (oh yeah, it was you) posted about the knee jerk (and totally clueless) reaction to snorkeling deaths in Hawaii.

Because people who buy their bikes at Walmart typically can't figure out how to properly use a quick release and there have been a relatively small number of mishaps, the people who buy $4000 titanium racing bikes also get bikes that have tabs on the front fork drop outs that prevent you from removing the wheel just by opening the lever, which is the reason the quick release was invented.

A few years back a legislator in Massachusetts introduced a bill to require that every kayak instruction class start by teaching the wet exit (how to remove the spray skirt and get out of a capsized kayak). That means every one day introduction to kayaking, and every 2 hour clinic offered to advanced kayakers and every class teaching experienced kayakers to become instructors. It was precipitated by a single death.

As for all those deaths in the Cayman Islands, they also include snorkelers, swimmers, and even a boater:
Man killed in Jet Ski collision :: Cayman Compass