How did quick release belts become a safety standard?

[Wookie]

If you go to the DAN site and download any of their annual fatality reports, you will see that confirmed cardiac events are by far the leading cause of scuba fatalities every year.

A couple of years ago PADI and DAN did a major study of dive accidents, and the results of that study were the impetus of most of the changes PADI made to its OW training standards this year. That study confirmed that the number one cause of death was health-related. It also showed that the number one training related cause of death was a chain of events: drowning preceded by an embolism caused by a rapid ascent to the surface following an OOA emergency. That is why the new PADI standards emphasize awareness of gas levels, maintaining good buddy contact, and dropping weights on the surface to achieve buoyancy.

The DAN reports include a description of all the fatal incidents for which they have that information. In response to a recent thread on this very topic, I went through two years of reports to see how many of the cases had circumstances in which failure to drop weights at depth MAY have been a factor. I say "MAY" because in many of the cases, what actually happened is unclear--the diver was just found drowned under water. In each of those years, there were only a relative handful of cases in which the failure to drop weights at depth MAY have been a factor in the fatality.

I think that Rich's statement has some validity to it, not withstanding the DAN and PADI studies. If heart attack is the leading cause of death in divers, I would venture to say that prior poor health and diving is the leading cause of heart attack's in divers.

I have been closely associated with 4 fatalities while a liveaboard captain. All four were heart attack-induced drownings. My first victim had a heart attack between jumping off the boat and hitting the water. He was dead as soon as he hit the water, or at least he was unresponsive, and was dead when we got him on the boat. My second was a diver who surfaced away from the boat, signaled for a pickup, and died before we could get to him. I was on the roof working on an air conditioner, and watched him the entire time. He was alert and looking around for the 3 or 4 minutes it took to get a divemaster in the dinghy, drive to him, and grab him as he was sinking. The third instance, the diver swallowed the ocean while on the surface waiting for his buddies. We got to him in time and brought him back with CPR. I bought AEDs shortly after. Only the fourth guy had a heart attack at depth, under the supervision of an instructor trainer and instructor candidate. He was in a howling current on a new rebreather.

Common thread? 55 year old (+ 5 years) sedentary white male.

 

[Akimbo]

Reports do not lose their validity over time...

Of course they do if/when circumstances change, though probably not significant over 5 years. I have read these reports. Where we disagree is in the conclusions drawn to deal with the stats.

 

[Rich Keller]

That’s an interesting response to these findings. What I see is that training agencies are doing a terrible job of teaching physiology and developing skills.

Lost in the din is the fact that newly trained divers are all too often scared as hell and primed for panic. That is the major reason for teaching and practicing “blow and go”. I have never had to do one for self-rescue, but knowing that I can eliminates any sense of equipment dependence. Highly criticized old-school training like harassment, blow and go, swimming tests without gear, and blunt language of consequences produce divers that far less likely to panic or embolize themselves.

The old-school training did not sugar coat or minimize the risks so those divers were also better informed about the amount of risk they were assuming before they choose to go diving on their own.

 

[Akimbo]

In 52 years of diving, I've never had a weight belt buckle release by getting snagged on something and I dive in thick kelp.

I have had cam buckles accidently open on a weightbelt, once during working a dive and once on deck (different metal buckles). However, that was decades ago when I ditched them. I have also had a belly band on a tank harness release once when squeezing into a lobster hole.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think that Rich's statement has some validity to it, not withstanding the DAN and PADI studies. If heart attack is the leading cause of death in divers, I would venture to say that prior poor health and diving is the leading cause of heart attack's in divers.

I have been closely associated with 4 fatalities while a liveaboard captain. All four were heart attack-induced drownings. My first victim had a heart attack between jumping off the boat and hitting the water. He was dead as soon as he hit the water, or at least he was unresponsive, and was dead when we got him on the boat. My second was a diver who surfaced away from the boat, signaled for a pickup, and died before we could get to him. I was on the roof working on an air conditioner, and watched him the entire time. He was alert and looking around for the 3 or 4 minutes it took to get a divemaster in the dinghy, drive to him, and grab him as he was sinking. The third instance, the diver swallowed the ocean while on the surface waiting for his buddies. We got to him in time and brought him back with CPR. I bought AEDs shortly after. Only the fourth guy had a heart attack at depth, under the supervision of an instructor trainer and instructor candidate. He was in a howling current on a new rebreather.

Common thread? 55 year old (+ 5 years) sedentary white male.

I guess I am confused as to the point.

I thought the original premise was "If you are found dead while still wearing your weights it is because you were a moron and that cost you your life." (post #24. I was responding that a lot of causes of death during diving do not involved a need to drop weights at depth. One example is sudden cardiac deaths. You cite four examples and say that prior poor health is the primary cause. Or do you agree with Rich that the guy who died between jumping and hitting the water was a moron for not getting his belt off before he hit the water? It seems to me that the four cases you cite all support the idea that not every dive incident can be saved by a person dropping his belt at depth.

He then says that cardiac deaths are preceded by panic. That was not true in any of the cases you cite. In fact, if you read the descriptions of the cardiac events in the DAN reports, you won't find many being preceded by panic at all. It's not like these things all happened with solo divers. People usually saw what happened.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Question- How did quick release belts become a safety standard?
A weight belt did not appear as an accessory or a tool in the first US 1948 Aqua-Lung Instruction manual. It did appear in the subsequent Rene Bussoz manuals in the early 1950s as an accessory. It was a simple double D ring .

In the genius of the sport here were many articles in "Skin Diver magazine, a magazine for skin divers and spear fishermen" that proposed numerous configurations for weight belts quick release systems some unique, some ridiculous, many adapted from other sources such as .the over center cam action release was adapted from a WW11 submariners PFV,other quick releases were adapted or can be traced to the WW11 parachutes, and finally the auto seat belt

Beginning forty six years ago in 1968 NAUI, as all professional organizations do, conducted a yearly professional dive conference; "International conference on Underwater education," "ICUE" aka "IQ."

At the very first conference I presented a paper on the weight belt. My paper proposed that the weight belt be standardized to be constructed of 2 inch material of a very bright distinctive color, that it use only the recently introduced and at that time almost universally accepted automotive seat belt buckle, and it should release in only one direction.
The two inch became a industry standard, as did the automotive seat belt type buckle. very few adapted the bright colored weight belts other than for rental belts, the students released belts either left or right depending on hand dominance. But it was a beginning....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regarding stress.
While in grad school I researched and wrote several class papers on the subject of stress. All the research was based on the numerous papers and books of the great Dr. Hans Seyle's life's work, the renown father of Stress Induced Illness aka SII.

My major contribution was to avoid stress was the hypnosis "you must have a deviation from the norm to avoid stress." There are so many examples in every day life; each and every one of you who are reading this are perfect examples, you escape from your every day hum drum life into the underwater world, but there are many other examples, a postman who walks all day delivering mail would not take up hiking as a hobby, the high powered sales man may enjoy the solitude of fishing, the high powered executive who is cooped up in an office all day plays golf with his friends in a beautiful setting, (I certainly hope I never get old enough to need to drown worms on a wishing stick or play pasture pool to avoid stress- what a waste of time and a life!)

Dr. Hans Seyle published manyresearch papers too numerous to list as well as a number of books, two of his major books are as follows;
The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956, ISBN 978-0070562127
Stress without distress. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., c1974, ISBN 978-0397010264

Well over 40 years ago my friends and fellow NAUI instructors Dr. Glen H Egstrom and the late Dr. Arthur J. Bachrach began extensive research and experimentation on diver stress. This resulted in the monumental work "Stress and Performance in Diving." which was released on March 1, 1987 by Best publishing company. It is a Real Hardcover book of 183 pages. In they event you are interested the book can be purchased on the used book market. It's ISBN' s are ISBN-10: 0941332063 and ISBN-13: 978-0941332064.
~~~~~~~~~~ Or ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may PM me with you name and e mail address and I will forward the information to Dr. Egstrom who just happens to have a very few extra over run copies for sale and he will contact you directly
by return e mail.

FYI I am forwarding three "Customer Reviews" extracted from Amazon.com

*Excellent book for people in love with the sport

*This book covers in detail panic in scuba diving, gives you techniques on how to spot the panic prone diver, and it teaches you ways on how to recognize problems before you hit the water. In addition, the book explains how divers can recognize key elements of anxiety before they lead to panic reactions in yourself and others. I recommend this book to dive masters and dive instructors, it will become an invaluable tool.

*This is a must for any diver considering moving into the instructional side of diving.
It gets deep into causes and effects of stress and panic.
Symptoms and effective methods for dealing with panicked divers.

SDM

 

[Wookie]

It's a chicken and egg question.

You state that DAN and PADI have information that say that the majority of diving deaths are caused not from diving, but from heart attack. I do not dispute this, but that begs the question "Why are the majority of divers who die having heart attacks?". My response is that the stress of diving on sedentary 55 year old white males causes them to have the heart attack. As we all know, diving is a low stress activity, right? Right up until the littlest thing goes wrong. Then, the SHTF and the heightened stress of saving yourself causes a tipping point and into cardiac arrest you go. I would also like to postulate that having a heart attack underwater is so close to 100% fatal that it makes no difference.

In my opinion, the most dangerous time for a diver is at the surface, either transitioning from an air breather to a tank breather or vice versa. Of my 4 observed fatalities, only one happened at depth, the rest happened at the surface either before or following a dive. Although I wouldn't advocate a 80 lb wing, especially bungee wings of death , I stand by my earlier statement that dropping a weightbelt should be one of the very first things a diver should do for self-rescue.

 

[beanojones]

Stupid is a matter of opinion. Telling people to keep a reg in their mouth on the surface that will have a limited air supply at the end of a dive rather then using a snorkel is stupid in my opinion. The snorkel is another simple, fail proof piece of equipment that will work as long as it is needed. Being dependent on equipment that can stop working or fail at any time and ignoring simple fail proof alternatives is stupid, again just my opinion.

These figures are much higher then they should be. Neutral at the surface is when you are upright, with your head tilted back, holding a full breath of air and only your face is above the water. This is a survival swimming technique that will allow you to stay a float for days without ever having to move your arms or legs. The only thing you need to do is take 1/2 or 3/4 breaths to keep your face above the water. That is in about the 2lb area not the 14lb of lift needed to hold your entire head out of the water. If you use a snorkel instead then you can also eliminate the 2lbs as well.

The average aluminum 80 cu/ft tank is 1 1/2 to 2 pounds negative when full so for the majority of divers lets say 2lbs not 6lbs.

10lbs negative buoyancy from an ineffective kick is just a ridicules statement.

By my calculations that removes 28lbs from the 36lbs of minimum lift you think is needed. What are the other 8lbs of lift that you say are needed coming from?

You have badly mistaken a number of facts:

1. First and most importantly neutrally buoyant is face in the water floating at eye level. Which no good for someone in trouble.

Your idea "Neutral at the surface is when you are upright, with face out of the water" is in fact being about 10 pounds positively buoyant because 10 pounds is about what a head out of the water weighs, more or less. "Laying your head back" in waves is a great way to get mouthfuls of water. It's a stupid position in the open ocean. Unless of course one is buoyed well clear of the water. Regardless asking someone in trouble to choose their ideal position for maximum efficiency is asking a stone for blood, because a panicked diver is not acting rationally, much less thoughtfully and ideally.

So we can add that 10 pounds back.

2. "10lbs negative buoyancy from an ineffective kick is just a ridicules statement." As I said, what you don't know is what you don't know. I also pointed out conditions could be the other factor in need that buoyancy. Why trust your non experience to decide it? You will never need to help a diver in this situation, I hope. But having an opinion about that number is ridiculous, because you simply have no grounds to decide one way or the other.

So we can add that 10 pounds back. Or choose a lesser number if you like.

3. "The average aluminum 80 cu/ft tank is 1 1/2 to 2 pounds negative when full so for the majority of divers lets say 2lbs not 6lbs". Yeah but we don't weight ourselves for the beginning of the dive, we weight ourselves for the end of the dive. There is somewhere between a 5 and 10 pounds swing to most common tanks from full to empty, and if you assume the problems happens at the beginning then we have to add that weight back in.

So we can add that 6 pounds back.

4. Holding a full breath of air gives about ten pounds of positive buoyancy, depending on lots of things.

It's fun to play-rescue people who are relaxed in full gear. You know, a rescue course. Most people call their rescue course fun. But real rescues are not fun, because the damn victims keep doing stupid stuff. A choking diver often has no air in their lungs because the choking reflex is a instinctual body response to try and use whatever air is in the lungs to eject water from the airway.

Once the lungs are empty from choking, there is no buoyancy from air in the lungs. And if the face is in the water the involuntary inhale will get water not air, so no buoyancy is comign to those lungs.

So we can add that 10 pounds back.

The idea that any snorkel ever helped a panicked diver is so ridiculous that it can pass without comment. Panicked divers are helped by having their face dramatically clear of water and basically nothing else. They reject all the gear often. Either way they are not going to casually put the snorkel in do the slow controlled inhale needed.

Look in the end, people make the gear choices they do, for whatever reasons they do. Why argue with someone with experience about what's necessary? If you think you, and no one you dive with, will ever need rescue at the surface, play on. If you want to make choices allowing for easy surface rescues, including the quick intervention that prevents full blown rescues, then you have to listen to those with knowledge about them. You don't have to follow the recommendations, but arguing with the facts from a point of no experience is just wrongheaded.

 

[boulderjohn]

You state that DAN and PADI have information that say that the majority of diving deaths are caused not from diving, but from heart attack. I do not dispute this, but that begs the question "Why are the majority of divers who die having heart attacks?". My response is that the stress of diving on sedentary 55 year old white males causes them to have the heart attack. As we all know, diving is a low stress activity, right? Right up until the littlest thing goes wrong. Then, the SHTF and the heightened stress of saving yourself causes a tipping point and into cardiac arrest you go. I would also like to postulate that having a heart attack underwater is so close to 100% fatal that it makes no difference.

You are assuming that something in the nature of diving is causing the heart attacks. The number one cause of death in golf is also heart attacks--what is it about golf that is causing those heart attacks?

Research indicates that most heart attacks in general happen in the morning--with no real stressor involved. It also indicates that the next most likely time to have a heart attack is in the last phase of sleep--after the victim has been sleeping peacefully for hours.

While it is true that the most likely cause of death while diving is a heart attack, the fact is that there aren't all that many heart attacks while diving. The reason it is the leading cause of death is not because it is happening all the time. It is because there aren't that many people dying for any reason while on scuba. That is also why it is the leading cause of death for golf. Maybe there isn't that much of a scuba related reason for it. Maybe some of those people were just due for a heart attack. My nephew's mother-in-law was a scuba fatality. the autopsy showed that not only had she had a heart attack while diving, she had had one the day before and survived without realizing it.

 

[supergaijin]

I have also done a bunch of try-dives and have seen a few active panics in the water. None- zero- zip have been anything like what Beano is talking about.

I have only met a couple of experienced divers who could descend without weight while wearing a 3mm shortie. Anyone fighting for the surface is simply unable to descend. They may flap around a bit, but that is not drowning.

I also do not take inexperienced divers to areas prone to 6' swells but maybe I'm just acting as a prudent person would.