Rebreather Diver dies in Pool in Oregon

[MXGratefulDiver]

Irony ... a letter to the editor in this month's issue of Northwest Dive News, from the deceased ... thanking the dive shop and instructor who certified him to dive the rebreather.

http://www.nwdivenews.com/

Click the magazine cover, then select page 7.

Every instructor's worst fear is the day they find out a student of theirs passed away in a diving accident. This instructor has a good reputation in our area ... I hope I never have to feel what he must be feeling these days.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[wedivebc]

Irony ... a letter to the editor in this month's issue of Northwest Dive News, from the deceased ... thanking the dive shop and instructor who certified him to dive the rebreather.

http://www.nwdivenews.com/

Click the magazine cover, then select page 7.

Every instructor's worst fear is the day they find out a student of theirs passed away in a diving accident. This instructor has a good reputation in our area ... I hope I never have to feel what he must be feeling these days.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Wow, that's kind of chilling... Thanks for posting that Bob.

 

[Charlie99]

http://www.nwdivenews.com/

Click the magazine cover, then select page 7.

that also answer the question of semi-closed rebreather he was using --- most likely a Dolphin.

 

[Charlie99]

The anesthesia machine has an alarm that will go off when pO2 is under 0.21. Rebreathers cannot do this because 21% O2 is toxic at deep enough depths (and you pO2 has to be less than .21 to dive it), but this alarm is why I seldom, if ever see hypoxia without hypercapnea.

The most common O2 sensors work on the partial pressure of O2, not the fraction of O2. There is no reason that a rebreather can't be fitted with an alarm that goes off if the ppO2 is less than 0.21ata.

 

[rigdiver]

Actually the Inspiration has a low ppO2 alarm. It's the unit I'm certified on and does work. I'm not semi-closed certified, so I'm not sure about the Dolphin. RB's are constantly trying to kill you. Never, ever trust the thing. Old saying/often repeated cliche'----KNOW YOUR PPO2. And, COMPLACENCY KILLS.
Bill

 

[wedivebc]

The most common O2 sensors work on the partial pressure of O2, not the fraction of O2. There is no reason that a rebreather can't be fitted with an alarm that goes off if the ppO2 is less than 0.21ata.

Actually the oxygauge is an optional piece of equipment for the Dolphin. The victim's Dolphin was fitted with one and it was turned off. (see post#25) The oxygauge will sound a loud alarm when the po2 drops below 0.3ata

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Well previously it was suggested that this particular diver had an IQ that would place him in the retarded catergory. His letter was well written and I wouldn't suspect he was anything other than average by reading it.

Very chilling though.

 

[H2Andy]

actually, i have heard from several divers whose opinions i greatly respect,
and they seem to agree that there was some sort of disconnect with
Harvey's thinking. it's not so much that he had a "low iq" but more a lack of
situational awareness, common sense, whatever you call it.

at any rate, we simply don't know what part, if any, this issue played in the
accident. i can hazzard a guess that it probably din't help, though.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

He was on a dolphin and I have dove the dolphin. I did feel hypoxic in shallow waters so I'd never use it in the pool.

I understand about what you mean about lack of awareness. I know a dive professional that I think just doesn't get it when it comes to common sense. He isn't stupid by any stretch, just, weird.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I am a "vintage diver," and have newer used a rebreather. But I am also a safety professional, who has investigated fatal accidents. I read this up to about page 6, then went to the back after seeing Uncle Pug's posts of his reviews. I do have a few things to say though.

While discussing an accident is interesting, and can be educational, speculating is simply that, speculating about what happened. I see no evidence that the breathing gas was analyzed for oxygen content. I see no evidence that medical tests were performed that would rule out other medical conditions. And discussion about the diver's intelligence is not necessarily pertinent to the cause of death, as we cannot connect the two even if the diver had lower-than-average intelligence. Why? Because we don't know the real conditions of either the diver or the unit involved. We have a newspaper report, and information not directly related to this dive by a buddy diver from a different dive at a different time. So there will be no definitive determination about what happened or did not from this forum with the information provided.

Now, for the discussion, I'll inject a different point of view. In a diving conference, Mr. Bev B. Morgan, President, Deepwater Development Corporation, made this statement:

We divers concurrently live in two worlds. One is the real world. The real world in diving is just that: what actually occurs and what is actually needed to overcome the burdens. The assumed world in diving is what each diver assumes to be "real". There are as many assumed worlds in diving as there are divers. It is necessary, therefore, to conduct research such as Dr. Egstrom is doing to find what is actually happening to divers and what is needed to improve the diver's lot. It is equally important for the results of such work to be applied to influence equipment design. Each of us should be devoted to bringing forth the real world of diving.

I suspect that Dr. Egstrom's statement, "Well conditioned, experienced divers do not find tese circumstances particularly uncomfortable since they have made a successful adaptation to the specific demands involved," could use elaboration. Many divers cover up problems to create the assumption to observers that they are "good" divers. If an exposure suit designer is an observer, his assumed world of diving is strongly influenced by the diver who is cold, but reports that he is "warm as toast" to continue his "good diver" pattern. As a matter of fact, the diver may have even convinced himself that the cold "ins't that bad". Needless to say, I am sure we all have heard a tale or two by divers that are obviously false, yet the diver himself is convinced it is true. The exposure suit designer that employs instruments to gather data will be more successful.

Without dwelling further on the interrelation of physiology, behavior, equipment, and methods, let us look at SCUBA diving equipment from a designer's viewpoint.

SCUBA diving encompasses the sport, professional, military, and research diving. THe following lists the important aspects of going underwater that determines the design of equipment...

Assuming the readir is knowledgeable in SCUBA equiment tat is currently available, I offer only the following comment: There has not been a major improvement in design in 10 years.

The future of diving equipment will be controlled by the originality of the designer, the consumer, demand, and the consumer's willingness to pay for improvements.

My design work has been concentrated on the first five items listed under "Diver Equipment" above.* The followin is my opinion on what to expect in the next five years.

1.RESPIRATION: Better regulators for open circuit SCUBA divers will be available. Inhalation resistance will be less than one inch of water pressure. Exhalation resistance may be improved, but only slightly if at all. Water spraying on inhalation, a common occurrence in today's regulators, will be eliminated.

Better semi and closed circuit breathing apparatus will be available for special applications such as deep diving. Inhalation and exhalation efforts will be eliminated. The apparatus will supply intake and exhaust breathing gasses at over and under pressures. If the diver passes out, the apparatus will automatically take over the breathing cycle and signal for assistance.

Morgan, Bev B., "Future SCUBA Equipment Design," Human Performance and SCUBA Diving, Proceedings of the Symposium on Underwater Physiology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, April 10-11, 1970, The Athletic Institute, 1970, SBN 87670-805-X, Chicago, page19.

*Mr. Morgan noted that the areas were 1. Respiration, 2. Buoyancy Contorl, 3. Sight, 4. Warmth, 5. Voice Communications, 6. Propulsion, 7. Instruments, 8. Tools.

One other thing I have noticed from the posts. All this discussion about dillegence being necessary for survival with this gear is what we call an administrative control. The gear itself is personnal protective equipment (PPE), but the training and attention necessary is an administrative control. The order of priority for controls, from the most reliable to the least reliable, is engineering > administrative > PPE.

From a safety perspective, it is interesting that these controls are to protect the diver from the personal protective equipment's shortcomings, and the PPE (in this case the semi-closed circuit scuba) protects the diver from the environment. So there is another level of concern, and that is for this type of scuba itself, and how to protect from its inherent problems.

The envisioned closed circuit scuba by Bev Morgan is an engineering control. That very specialized scuba (closed circuit with life-saving abilities to breath and signal) would probably have prevented this kind of fatality, as the gear would have sensed the lack of oxygen (if that was the problem), and added it automatically. If the diver became unconscious, and stopped breathing, the gear would have begun that for the diver too.

My question to all you rebreather experts out there is why, if this was envisioned for the future by one of the big names in diving, hasn't this occurred? Why do you continue to accept gear which doesn't have these characteristics, when this is possible and was envisioned in 1970?

SeaRat