Firstly, I apologize for bruising any sentiments with my Exley remark, but I do not apologize for for making the point. Exley was an "expert," he wrote several books -- including one on cave diving survival. The man died in a cave, in pursuit of a dubious record, by his own hand, using UNSAFE diving procedures. Period, end of story and end of life. That some folks lionize this and find it heroic should be troubling to the more reflective members of the thread. May I venture to guess that if I died using some of the comm diving procedures I've endorsed and maybe some of my own design, that some members of this thread might be, shall we say, somewhat unkind in their observations regarding my demise??? That'd be fair and I've never claimed to be an "expert" or written any diving books, ok? Before my own accident, I was a pretty typical commercial air diver with limited gas experience and training.
I'm genuinely upset to hear about ANYONE dying while diving even if -- and especially when -- it's the result of easily-preventable factors.
When comparing accident stats between sport divers (including cave divers) and commercial divers, I think there is a distinction between folks working for a living and those engaged in recreation or hobby activitities. I don't know what the numbers are, but I suspect that the representative accidents are probably different. I've known two commercial divers who've been killed and a handful who've sustained serious injuries. None of these episodes were the result out of air or hyperbaric injuries of any sort. They were trauma accidents; crushings, lacerations and that sort of thing. I tend to think of these as industrial accidents, rather than diving acccidents, per-se. If you had welders, riggers, crane operators and manual laborers working blindfolded in dangerous environments, you'd probably get a lot of the same things.
I have seen a few hyperbaric injuries and breathing media supply problems, but in every case (that I've personally witnessed) the built-in redundencies or the chamber saved the situation.
Hey, I wish EVERYONE safe and happy diving -- and no Burke, I'm not selling anything.
And Bob3, you're damned right I cut sneaky farts and leave the room. It's standard operating procedure and the only way -- short of wearing a drysuit -- to escape detection! I thought they taught you guys that in dry suit school ;-)
Best regards
Doc
