Risks and Root Causes

[khubla]

If this post is in the wrong section, or has already been discussed elsewhere, I apologize.

As a new diver, I am likely at more risk than a seasoned diver, simply due to lack of practice and experience. Are there any "old dogs" who can answer a simple question?

As a new diver, what are the top, most likely ways, I will become injured, or worse? What are the usual "newbie" mistakes?

 

[iztok]

Hit by a boat ladder.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Low situational awareness (SA) is often a problem with new divers.... this extends to your surroundings and to monitoring air consumption, depth, time, your buddy, other divers, navigation, boat ladders as mentioned above .... with time and dives you gain "SA" along with other skills.

There is a learning curve. Just be careful, conservative and alert, and you'll be just fine.... and have fun!!!!

Best wishes.

 

[ptyx]

From an old DAN report:

Dive Fatalities

Seventy percent of males and 80 percent of females were 40 years or older. The age range for females was 30-69 years, with a median of 53 years. The range for males was 14-72 years, with a median of 47 years. Body mass indexing (BMI) data available for 49 fatalities indicated that 26 percent were classified as normal weight, and 74 percent were overweight or obese. Forty-five percent were obese or morbidly obese, representing a higher proportion than in national surveys.

The initial triggering event that began the sequence leading to death was most often insufficient gas (14 percent), followed by rough seas and strong current (10 percent), heart disease (9 percent), entrapment (9 percent), and equipment problems (8 percent). The equipment problems may have been procedural or hardware related. The triggering event could not be established for 20 percent of the cases.

According to DAN, the most likely way you'll get killed is by being old, overweight and running out of gas.

From the 2008 report, for incidents:

Of 11,869 responses concerning the dives procedural characteristics, 11,709 (98.6%) divers
reported an uneventful exposure. Procedural problems were reported in 160 dives (1.3%)
and are shown in Figure 2.5.1-1. The most common procedural incidents were buoyancy
problems (0.9%) followed by rapid ascent (0.3%). The remaining procedural incidents, out-of-air,
shared air and missed or omitted decompression, each represented a reported frequency
of less than one-tenth of one percent.

Good buoyancy control and good gas planning seem to be good things to work on.
A reasonable level of fitness is probably a good idea as well to increase survivability should an incident happen.

 

[The Chairman]

As a new diver, what are the top, most likely ways, I will become injured, or worse? What are the usual "newbie" mistakes?

Die? Probably not. However, you could suffer barotrauma to your ears. Ouch! In reality, this is completely avoidable.

Start early. Equalize your sinuses gently and early. Do it when you first get up. Why get ready if you can't equalize?

Do it again just BEFORE you descend, then do it way before you feel any additional pressure. If you do feel any pressure: STOP DESCENDING!!! If you can't equalize gently, then ascend a bit and try again. But PLEASE keep it gentle. Hopefully you won't have to ascend much, but don't hurt yourself. Over doing it will feel just as bad as not doing it enough. Yes, it's pretty common to feel weird the next day. Not good... just common.

The good news is that sinuses get tougher with use. The more you dive the less you will traumatize them... just keep it early and gentle.

Oh yeah... probably the most COMMON injury to the new diver is sunburn. Cover up.

 

[gcbryan]

If this post is in the wrong section, or has already been discussed elsewhere, I apologize.

As a new diver, I am likely at more risk than a seasoned diver, simply due to lack of practice and experience. Are there any "old dogs" who can answer a simple question?

As a new diver, what are the top, most likely ways, I will become injured, or worse? What are the usual "newbie" mistakes?

Don't do anything that makes you uncomfortable and you'll avoid the cause of many newer diver accidents.

Be conservative while you figure out all of the things that are new to you...stay shallower, come back with more air than you think you need, stay in touch with your buddy.

All this will give you time to learn what you need to learn to stay safe.

 

[Dirk P.]

Don't over-estimate your own capabilities. If you don't feel comfortable with the dive plan, don't do the dive.

Try to dive regularly. This will help to increase control over buoyancy and other skills.

If you come to new dive locations, always make sure you have someone with you who knows the location and start with easy dives (shallow, no confined spaces etc.) first.

Do some specialties, this will help increase skills as well. I liked the PPB spec. as it really helped me to focus on getting buoyancy under control.

 

[scubapimp]

Go find the Standard Safe Diving Practices.. these are ten rules to dive or die by. Read them, know them and live them. The people that get injured or dead break these rules. The people that dive conservatively, dive regularly, continue their education, follow the rules tend to be the safest divers.

 

[TSandM]

Poor buoyancy control plays a significant role in a lot of new diver accidents (got this information from DAN, and also from the BSAC accident reports I've read). So does running out of gas, something which should NEVER happen. So practicing your buoyancy, and developing a good habit of monitoring your pressure at least every five minutes during a dive, should keep you out of the vast majority of serious trouble.

It's good that you are thinking about this. Just raising your awareness decreases the likelihood that you'll become a statistic.

 

[DevonDiver]

If you follow the training, advice and recommendations as taught in Open Water class, then you cannot go far wrong. Most incidents occur when divers exceed their self-appraised capabilities.

To stay safe:

1) Dive conservatively - within depth and NDL recommendations.
2) Use good buddy procedures - stay close, stay observant and communicate at all stages.
3) Plan every dive, including a risk assessment and discussion on your emergency procedures.
4) Conduct a comprehensive pre-dive safety check - including serious thought on aborting the dive if you feel unwell or uneasy.
5) Ensure your equipment is in good working order and suitable for the dive - don't get complacent with it.
6) Develop good situational awareness. Quick reaction can prevent an incident from ever occuring - know where your buddy is, what your air and depth are, and what is happening around you.
7) Develop capacity to control stress and panic. These cause poor reactions to even minor problems that can lead to major incident.