Reporting A&I topics to DAN

[cruiser]

Jim, we're just putting forth suggestions that are more efficient for what DAN is requesting, as DAN's request seems an inefficient method of gathering info. Today there are more tech savvy, fully automated ways of doing the same thing on the internet. These programs run 24/7 (no man-hour monitoring involved and the results are much more comprehensive) and dumps the results in your email in-box. Perhaps I'm missing something regarding DAN's request.

 

[driftin' by]

Perhaps I'm missing something regarding DAN's request.

Uh, me too. I would figure any chamber ride would end up as high-priority in DAN's inbox whereas relaying second-hand information or links to newspaper articles would do nothing but overburden resources and belabor the process of fact-finding.

 

[gypsyjim]

Jim, we're just putting forth suggestions that are more efficient for what DAN is requesting, as DAN's request seems an inefficient method of gathering info. Today there are more tech savvy, fully automated ways of doing the same thing on the internet. These programs run 24/7 (no man-hour monitoring involved and the results are much more comprehensive) and dumps the results in your email in-box. Perhaps I'm missing something regarding DAN's request.

Possibly your suggesting such an idea directly to DAN yourself, rather than in a thread on an internet chat site might be more effective? IJS.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Possibly your suggesting such an idea directly to DAN yourself, rather than in a thread on an internet chat site might be more effective? IJS.

I think we (or at least "I") are responding here because Jim made his request here (and in a couple of other similar threads). Apparently he has a friendship or connection with the person at DAN who is involved with this. So it seemed natural to clarify it with him (Jim) here. That's all.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

We all have an interest in reporting scuba accidents to authorities that organize the data, analyze it, and help arrive at recommendations on how we can dive safer. In my mind, Divers Alert Network is one such entity. Jim Lapenta's post(s) in this thread made me curious about what makes sense (from a typical recreational diver's perspective) and what would actually be helpful to DAN in the way of dive incident reporting.

Rather than get involved with the discussion here, I contacted Divers Alert Network directly regarding the issue of reporting. Here's the discussion that I had with a few DAN representatives:

My initial email:

Dear DAN,

I had a question regarding scuba-related accident reporting. I have heard that DAN, in an effort to gather more comprehensive accident data, has expanded it's accident reporting in recent years. Of the following scenarios, when would it be appropriate for me to report a scuba accident to DAN?:

1. If I were a diver who had firsthand involvement (victim, rescuer, eyewitness, etc.) in the accident.
2. If I have heard through second- or thirdhand sources about a scuba accident.
3. If I read an online or in-print news article about a scuba accident.
4. If I read a discussion thread on an Internet forum (e.g., on Scubaboard.com) on the topic of a particular incident but had no other involvement with the incident otherwise.

Response from Richard Vann:

All the situations you mentioned would be appropriate. It makes it less likely that we will miss an accident and sorting out redundant reports is not a problem.

Response from Petar Denoble:

Thank you for your interest and offer to help. The option number 1 is the most valuable and we would appreciate an extensive narrative in such case. Also, if you know of other divers who witnessed first hand and accident, please let them know that we would appreciate their report.
Option 2 is not very exciting and could clogg up the system
Option 3 and 4 are worth of sending the link to the Research@dan.org.

I interpret Richard Vann's response as a bias toward collecting more data to protect against missing an event.
On a practical level, I think Petar Denoble's response is a nice compromise between over- and under-reporting.

I hope y'all find this info helpful...

 

[driftin' by]

Nice work.