highest probability emergency situations?

[sheeper]

I see the single most common thing is getting separated from one's buddy (especially if BOTH are new divers). This is coupled closely with getting lost and followed by running low/out of air.

 

[RJP]

Very dependant of where you dive and the type of diving you do.

For this reason it's not necessarily valuable to compile an "overall most common emergency" list. This is why we teach divers to make an assessment of the dive environment, the dive plan, the dive gear, and the divers BEFORE any dive. After doing that it's very simple to determine what sorts of issues might occur on a given dive, and then:

A.) Modify (or abort) dive plan to obviate certain potential issues
B.) Be on the lookout for other potential issues during the dive in order to avert their occurrence
C.) Have appropriate gear and contingency plans to handle such incidents should the occur anyway

Think about it this way:

Yes, OOA can potentially occur on ANY dive. However, if the dive plan is for 30min on a site with a 35ft max depth along a basic coral reef with no overhead, few/no entanglement possibilities, no current, and a simple shore entry/exit with 85F water... with an appropriate dive plan, gear, and training the likelihood of going OOA is low, the diligence needed to guard against it happening is minimal, and the contingency plan to implement if it DOES happen is very simple. You probably don't need to dive doubles, bring three lights, have four cutting tools, etc, etc.

On the otherhand, if the dive plan was to 100ft on a busted-up wreck in an active fishing area with 10ft of vis and a bit of current you'd want to consider and plan for things like:

• depth vis-a-vis gas planning and narcosis
• entanglement hazards based on likelihood of monofiliment, nets, traps being present
• potential to encounter partial/full overhead situations
• likelihood of buddy separation
• potential to become lost/disoriented

While there are five things (and more) on that list, they can be minimized/eliminated/managed by things like:

• ensure the dive plan is within your training and experience
• run gas planning calculations during dive planning
• plan to stay on top of wreck at 75ft to reduce consumption and potential for narcosis
• bring redundant air supply
• ensure all gear is well-maintained and in good working order
• be on the lookout to avoid entanglement hazards, and bring appropriate cutting tools just in case
• clarify among team that there will be no penetration
• plan to stay within sight of buddy at all times
• bring a reel and/or other navigation aids (strobe, compass) to ensure you can return to upline
• have an SMB to deploy from depth or at surface if you get lost/separated
• have a whistle and other signalling device in case you surface away from the boat
• ultimately remember that ANY diver can call ANY dive at ANY time; if risks are too many/significant... they can ALWAYS be completely eliminated by not doing the dive

When you think about it that way... the number of realistically anticipated emergencies on any dive is ordinarily fairly limited, readily identified/predicted, often easy to avoid, and usually straightforward to handle if they should occur despite planning and diligence.

With proper planning, training, equipment, and dive execution there should be few if any "emergency situations." Rather there should really only be "minor nuisances."

Ray

 

[TSandM]

Maybe because I'm an ER doc for a living, I have a very specific definition of emergency: An emergency is something that has a real potential for resulting in lasting harm or death, and that needs to be responded to in a specific, effective way RIGHT NOW. There are few of those in diving -- running out of gas is probably the most common one, and it is essentially 100% preventable. If you adhere to the gear checks you were taught, including verifying that your regulators are working, you will not get in the water with your gas turned off. If you watch your gauge (and especially if you have done any of the gas planning now taught in OW classes) you will not run out of gas during a dive. Even if you have a violent free-flow, which CAN happen, you have time to get to your buddy and share gas, and you learned how to do that.

I've been involved in two true emergencies involving divers, and both were medical issues.

What I think is far more common is "problems" -- things that aren't going as they should, and need to be managed appropriately, but without the extreme urgency and time-critical nature of an emergency. Problems would include buoyancy issues, which are very common in novice divers. They would include difficulties with navigation, or handling water conditions for exit (I'm assuming a prudent novice would not proceed with a dive where conditions at ENTRY were problematic!). Leaking gear happens, and each incident has to be handled on a case-by-case basis, to decide whether the particular leak has significant impact, or has the potential for significant impact to the dive.

For the most part, dive gear is amazingly reliable, especially if well cared for.

 

[kr2y5]

I haven't experienced any emergency, but when I reflect on all the situations that could have easily evolved into an emergency, they all had to do with trapped air, and inability to vent. I know how to disconnect a stuck inflator hose, but the idea of a stuck inflator still makes me uncomfortable as something that can happen suddenly, without any warning, and leave almost no time to react. Add to that air trapped in your wing, or sudden difficulty in accessing your dump valve, and you're screwed.

 

[rhwestfall]

I'll add environment - getting (very) cold can commence a chain of events if situational awareness is replaced with such a distraction....

 

[Rich Keller]

I would have to say that being out of air is #1. Everyone trains for the big problems but it has been my experience that two unrelated problems happening at the same time can be far more dangerous. I would not consider any problem you face underwater to be small.

 

[RJP]

but the idea of a stuck inflator still makes me uncomfortable as something that can happen suddenly, without any warning, and leave almost no time to react. Add to that air trapped in your wing, or sudden difficulty in accessing your dump valve, and you're screwed.

Let's break it down:

Can a stuck inflator actually "happen suddenly" or "without any warning"? Practically speaking, no. At a minimum for it to be "stuck" it needs to be depressed... so it can only happen when you are activating it. This makes the amount of time underwater where one might encounter a stuck inflator exceedingly limited.

Does a stuck inflator "leave almost no time to react"? Well, if you are depressing the inflator you are by definition in the process of adjusting your buoyancy and should be very cognizant of what change you are making. There is no reason to have "no time to react" because you are already in the process of reacting to a buoyancy change at that time.

Sudden difficulty accessing your dump valve? Such as... ? Again, that's a different problem. Would suck if you had a stuck inflator valve while you were experiencing whatever additional problem is currently making it difficult to access your dump valve. Figure out what problem THAT is... and fix it.

Trapped air? That's another distinctly separate issue from a stuck inflator hose. To build on what Rich K says above, two nuisances = 1 problem. If your wing/suit traps air and cant be vented properly... fix that issue. This way, if you ever have a stuck inflator... it will only be a nuisance and not a problem. Also keep in mind, that since you'll almost certainly be in the process of adjusting your buoyancy if/when you experience a stuck inflator... would you be venting and adding air at the same time? A little bit of stuck air - whether due to a gear issue or diver orientation - shouldn't be a problem. If you've got a lot of air already in your wing (trapped or not) while you're in the process of ADDING more air, perhaps you're overweighted?

Ultimately, what are potential causes of a stuck inflator hose? Typically it's either poor maintenance (gear not being rinsed, stored, serviced in an appropriate/timely fashion) or a piece of debris such as sand getting lodged in the mechanism. Proper gear maintenance, service, and pre-dive checks will virtually eliminate the first set of issues. Even a slowly leaking, rather than "stuck" inflator can be identified and corrected during the most rudimentary pre-dive check. The second can be largely prevented by taking care where and how your gear is placed before and during a dive. Don't throw it on the ground, drag it through the parking lot, or crawl around on the bottom and the likelihood of debris causing your inflator to stick approaches zero.

I suppose that theoretically speaking your inflator could produce a run-away inflation if you experienced a free-flowing first stage, but with downstream demand valves in both your primary and backup regs that's where all the air from a free-flowing first stage would go.

Long way of saying... don't put major focus on what little things might happen. But do put a little focus on things that can help ensure that nothing major ever does happen.

 

[DeputyDan]

The only real emergency I have seen was at oil slick (on Bonaire) where diver #2 was following diver #1 up the ladder - the tank slipped out of diver #1's BCD - struck diver #2 in the head and both divers ended up underwater not knowing what was happening. I was diving with Herman and we were waiting on the divers to exit which they didn't - He took charge of the situation and I assisted as instructed. When I returned home, I signed up for stress and rescue.... he realized that the other divers were in serious difficulty - I did not!

Moral of the story - stay the hell away from any ladder (at the boat or otherwise) until the other divers are clear of it! And taking stress and rescue is worth it!

 

[TSandM]

I disagree that all leaking inflators are easy to find on pre-dive checks. I've had a number of occasions where a dry suit inflator was very slowly leaking, and I only realized it halfway through the dive, when I finally figured out that I kept dumping gas I hadn't put into the suit

I have had inflator buttons stick when depressed, both on a wing and a suit. Generally you can cycle them to decrease the leak, but if you're in a single tank and your BC inflator really does go wide open, you can depress the exhaust button while you pull off the hose. That's why open water divers have to demonstrate that skill, both in confined and open water. I have not had a wide open failure while underwater, but I have heard a couple of anecdotes. It's not a horrible issue if you can get the LP inflator hose off, which is why I'm kind of fussy about keeping mine easy to put on and remove.

 

[nimoh]

Moral of the story - stay the hell away from any ladder (at the boat or otherwise) until the other divers are clear of it! And taking stress and rescue is worth it!

I would add that staying away from the ladder doesn't just include directly under the diver in front of you. I have seen people lose their grip with one hand and end up swinging off to the side before falling off. A good rule of thumb is to stay out of jumping distance rather than just falling distance, although sometimes specific things make this difficult such as current and surge.