How will you Die?

[Iguana Don]

Jon,

If it could be done you could break that down into "Recreational" and "Technical" diving, then I think the numbers would be more impressive. Most of the deaths come from the "Technical" part of diving, by untrained divers doing what they aren't supposed to be doing.

ID

 

[turnerjd]

Iguana,

In the UK, the accidents break down into

1, Open water (padi trained) screwups,

2, Decompression diving accidents (BSAC table dives where something went wrong)

3, Other diving accidents such as entanglement

4, surface accidents - diver fights propeller of boat and loses type of thing.

As a general rule, the decompression diving accidents are genuine accidents, someone who has 120 mins of decompression to do losing their weightbeld and becoming a Polaris Missile, is obviously in trouble!, equally, anyone can get caught in monofilament line, and this is again a genuine accident.

O/W screwups have accounted over the last few years for more than their fair share of 'accidents', I think that the figure is about 37-40% of UK accidents were newbie screwups last year.

It is very difficult to seperate technical and recreational accidents, I think that in under UK conditions, the vast majority of divers are recreational (most divers do recreational decompression dives) divers, and that probably 80% of accidents are recreational ones. If on the other hand you count decompression diving as technical (IMHO its on the boarderline), then probably 60% of accidents are technical, and the 40% newbie screwups are the limmit of the recreational accidnets.

Borderlines, borderlines.

Split the difference? 50%:50%?

Jon T

 

[Natasha]

We just lost two people on Monday to Royal Springs in Florida.
They were diving the cave and were not certified cave divers.
I've always heard there are more dive deaths because of this, then any other way. But I do not have any stats to back this up, just what I've heard through the years.

 

[turnerjd]

Natasha,

There probably are, it's just that there are no real caves to dive in in the UK.

US stats will obviously reflect this.

Jon T

 

[Mario S Caner]

Actually the Estimated Fatality rate per 100,000 active divers per year has dropped from 8.62 in 1976 steadily to 2.09-2.68 in 1991. According to DAN (Diver's Alert Network) and NAUDC (National Underwater Accident Data Collection Center).

As for Technical diver fatalities, they only accounted for 13.4%. 10.4% in caves and 3.0% in deep dives (greater than 130fsw) Of the nine people the above percentages cover, 8 of them (wannabies) were not properly trained or equipped for the dive they chose to do. This makes the Technical Diving Communities diving fatality rate much cleaner than anyone elses. When you consider the scope and extent of the dives a technical diver does, it's really quite an accomplishment. Proving once again that proper training, gear and discipline is the key to staying alive in the water.

 

[Mick]

My girlfriend and I are starting our course this Thursday
We both talked about where we wanted to go diving after we completed the course. I personally did not want to go diving alone with her but I didnt know if she would be offended if I told her. Without me knowing, this was exactly the same thing she was thinking.
The courses are good and I believe generally well run, but, experience and confidence is something that everybody needs. So, we decided that we would dive with other experienced divers in a club until we were both confident enough to go it on our own for simple reasons

1) All our gear will be new and we know that we will need help in getting used to it

2) We can learn from others mistakes

3) We both know that in a dangerous situation, we would both panic because of our lack of experience and therefore would be of no use to each other as far as a rescue situation.

4) We think diving with others would just be more fun !

Mick

 

[Mario S Caner]

Mick, you're right on the money. Use your new gear early and often, hopefully during your instructional phase with your instructor, so they can show you how to properly configure and use it. Continue to dive with responsible, experienced divers, continue your education upto Rescue Diver and beyond... and have as much fun as possible!

 

[DiverInAk]

From OSHA:

Although the commercial diving population is small, with approximately 10,000 employees, they experience a very high rate of fatalities. An average of six (1) to thirteen (2) diving fatalities occur each year, which corresponds to a risk of between 28 and 50 deaths per thousand workers over a working lifetime of 45 years.

----
From DAN 1999:

Male divers between the ages of 30 and 39, with over 100 life-time dives, diving with the use of computer on a consequitive multi-level, no-decompression dive to 80+ feet are at the greatest risk for decompression illness.

----

DAN 1992 Dive Accident and Fatality Report:

"Drowning: The factors contributing to the drowning death are under the control of the diver. Consequently, the ultimate cause of essentially all SCUBA drownings is diver error. It is therefore possible to reduce substantially the number of drowning deaths by improving diver skills.... Finally, it appears that the diver is responsible for the error that leads to a fatality in the vast majority of cases. This may be due to inadequate knowledge and skills or simple ineptness. The training agencies are clearly challenged to improve the training process and promote continuing the training process throughout the diver's career." Page 67, 1992 DAN Report.

 

[ages]

Ok..ok...ok....the WarHammer Manuever killed me!! There should be a warning to all those who are new to this list....be afraid, be very afraid.....and be careful what you ask for!! ages

 

[DEEP SEA]

Drive by: 1 in 250,000 (depending on shooter)
Car Jack: 1 in 251,000
Earthquake 250 in 1 quake
Smog 1 in 252,000
Boarder Patrol 1 in 6,000
Web Fever 1 in 2