Experience levels & diving deaths

[jonas koh tao]

dear Ken! Thank you for the above information. i am a padi course cirector and dsat instructor trainer and i looking technical diving accident statistics that i can use to write a distinctive technical rescue diver course for dsat. i know approx what accidents are most like the most common but have a hard time to find any real data. any information that you can give is great!!!

kind regards
jonas samuelsson
bans 5-star padi career development center
PADI Diving Instructor Koh Tao / Thailand
www.kohtao-idc-group.comn

jonas@kohtao-idc-group.comn
koh tao, thailand

 

[Rick Murchison]

... if the deceased had not taken up diving, the medical probably would never have occured...

And how do you balance that with all the lives that have been "saved" by diving because an otherwise fatal lifestyle has been interrupted in order to dive????
And not just things like stopping smoking or excessive drinking or other drug dependence... I had a student tell me some years after his class "You literally saved my life." Turns out he'd been" in the depths of dispair and intending to kill himself when Scuba gave him something worth hanging around for.
Rick

 

[alibi 2]

I dive Calif. with cold water, currents and surf. I think that there is a increase now in older divers and out of shape divers. They lose divers every year here when abalone season opens and winter couch potatoes suddenly suit up and jump into rough water to "free dive" for the ab's.

I have been diving since '74 and i've remained a 'gym rat' all those years to keep in shape for diving..however i did experiance my first "dive injury" about 2 years ago when i broke 3 bones in my foot while exiting rough surf. A few months later i was diagnosed with a pre osteopenia. I have now been on medication for a year and new test show the condition has reversed and i have had no further problems.

I think that some shops and resorts sell the dive experiance as not being too physically demanding. Here in California, if your beach diving it is very physically demanding. I have seen people that were so out of shape that when they got back to the beach they could not stand up, not even to they're knees and just laid in the surf till others could strip they're gear off and drag them out of the water.


Im in good health but i am aware of being an "older" diver and i always try to error on the conservative side. Younger bodies are more forgiving of "mistakes' and pushing limits. As much as it interests me, i don't think that this point in my life would be a good time to take up tech diving.

 

[RonFrank]

Very interesting statistics.

Some things I have noticed over the years:

• Rebreather incidents seem to be on the rise. Likely due to the cost of rebreather technology dropping, but I know of at least two rebeather instructors that have died in the past few of years.
  
• Technology is always improving, and using OC equipment, equipment failure appears to be on a downward trend.
  
• Most incidents I have either witnessed or read about involving older experienced dives, while dive related are not a result of diving, rather a result of a medical issue that occurred while diving. Let's face it, having a heart attack while diving is generally fatal where the same thing occurring in the proximity of emergency care is less life threatening.
  
• While many argue that instruction standards are on the decline, I don't believe that to be true. I know a lot of instructors, and witness checkout dives on a regular basis. IMO the quality I witness from instructors I have observed is very high.

I plan on living forever, but if I die while diving.. well I can think of worst ways to go...

 

[Bob DBF]

Stupidity kills. If we can teach our divers to be smarter, we could IMMEDIATELY cut fatalities by 70%. That's a significant number (IMHO) and a valuable walk-away lesson.

- Ken

If stupidity killed I wouldn't be typing this reply. Over the 40+ years of diving I have made major stupid errors in judgment and the situation I was in deteriorated rapidly (you gave three examples, I could add more). At this point in time there are two courses of action to take, mine is to reassess the situation and find a way out of the problem, the other is to panic. Now there may not be a way out, and you die, but panic gives no options.

Another thought, would an IQ test be appropriate before you would be allowed to dive?

The problems with teaching divers how to deal with panic is that it takes time and eventually you have to stress test to see how the diver deals with it. Second is up to what level of threat are you going to teach? The diver training I had "back in the day" is looked upon now as hazing so I don't believe we are going back to that model.

The good news is that there are not enough deaths to be valid statistical proof of anything.

Bob
--------------------------
Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

 

[dktexas54]

I wonder if it is simply that age overall is a more important indicator. Most diving deaths seem to occur with divers in their 50s (often as a result of existing medical conditions). How long they have been diving is less important than the fact that they are getting old, and exertion or stress is more likely to create a fatal scenario?

If that is right, then the switch in the statistics could simply be blamed on the baby boomers (why not, we blame them for everything else...).

RM,
I am mid fifties. take blood pressure med for slightly elevated BP. I concur completely with you. The body at 55 is not the same as at 35 for me. I feel this must be true generally even though I know some 60 year old's who run marathons. I need extra time and preparation compared to some of my younger diver friends. This RUSH to keep up with them creates anxiety, hence elevating an already high blood pressure situation. Throw in strong currents, being with new buddies who your stressed over, a challenging enviroment, and I can see where cardio pulmunary type events can happen regardless of your number of dives. I take my health and psychological situation into account at dive time. I dive relaxed and at my pace. I have a doctor who knows what type of diving I do and I get a yearly physical to make sure. Everyone who dives should get at least a yearly checkup past 40 in my opinion. As more and more divers get older, we will see even more diving fatalities i am afraid.