Scuba Deaths

[marcienko]

People do stupid stuff all the time,just add water to it.

Regards

Marcin

 

[Darnold9999]

Just as a thought - I have had WAY more close calls on motorcycles than I ever have had underwater. Just when the motorcycle goes sideways it gets reported as just another traffic accident.

Just as easy for the uneducated and inexperienced to get involved in - just as much room for error. Most of the time the environment is very benign, but when it goes sideways at 100+ mph you have even less time to react and solve the problem. The human body and your instincts at 100 mph are just as wrong on a bike as they are underwater. Slam on the brakes comes immediately to mind as the equivelant of bolting for the surface.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I agree with the people who say that the issue with scuba is that you do it in a medium where you cannot survive more than a couple of minutes without life support equipment.

I've had a BUNCH of accidents riding horses, including one which was potentially life-threatening. But in all of those accidents, there was never a time when I couldn't breathe. Similarly, in a small airplane, you can have an engine quit -- but you have TONS of time to figure out what to do about it, compared with someone underwater who has no gas.

You can do a lot of stupid stuff rock climbing, mountain climbing, riding horses, even racing motorcycles, and survive it. An incident of the same gravity underwater is far more potentially lethal . . . And we haven't even begun to discuss the idea that being underwater and in trouble is a potent trigger for panic. If you have an engine quit in a small airplane, you may be frightened, but you can breathe and see and you have time to talk to somebody in the tower, get advice, get support, and figure it out. If you have your gas quit at 100 feet, you can't talk to anybody, you can't breathe, you're in water you know you can drown in, and you probably don't have any training in how to maintain your composure in such a situation. Is it any wonder that you're unlikely to manage it well?

Well Said.

The point that has been made that if someone dies on the golf course of a heart attack, it's not called a 'golf death.' But someone in neoprene kicks it from a bad ticker (jeez, I must be in a film noir mood tonight) that's all she wrote...it's a diver death.

By the same token, someone having a heart attack after jumping out of a plane with a parachute on would probably be called a jump accident.

But there are other factors to consider. Normally, for accident comparison, there must be some common scale; number of accidents per X. That's what makes this so difficult. Relatively few people are regular divers, so that would probably skew the statistics. Age is a factor, there are very few very young divers. The list of variables goes on and on. That's why statistics such as, "more people die from falling coconuts than from shark attacks" is pretty useless data as we all know. There is no common X.

Do I believe scuba is more dangerous than some other activities? Sure. Do I believe we can dramatically slash the danger via proper training? Of course. The simple fact is, if you know the danger, accept it and train and plan properly, you can mitigate it to a great extent but not completely. Of course, you could also get knocked in the noggin' by a golf ball whacked by some crazy dame on the back nine (just to wrap up that film noir theme).

There is a risk analysis group in New England, Mass., I believe. Anyone know if then have ever done any type of risk assessment of scuba?

Jeff

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It seems like our sport has one of the highest death rates out of all other sports. What others do you think have more deaths? and why do we have so many?

opinions

Frankly, I think the most dangerous part of your dive will occur when you are driving to and from the dive site.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DGriffin]

Plenty of statistics that says SCUBA is one of the most dangerous leisure activities. If it wasn't midnight, I'd crack open my work PC and start chasing down links (the ones that aren't proprietary). It simply is dangerous, when considering the accident / death rates per number or participants and the frequency of participation. I make a very comfortable living as the controller of an insurance company, and fortunately (or unfortunately) the stats are what they are. I'm surprized that String's insurance company doesn't exclude SCUBA. Good for him. Many standard companies exclude SCUBA (and skydiving), but you can add them back as a ryder.

I also do the other big risk taker - motorcycles. It's similar to diving in the fact that the stupid ones are going to kill themselves (thanks Darwin) and make the safe riders look bad. It's funny (not) how much safer motorcycle riders are who have taken a MSF course vs.those who have not. Although a newbie here, I would imagine this community is probably safer than the average diver because we talk about what's smart, and not so smart. Just being aware makes us safer divers.

I gave up the other big risk taker, skydiving, when I had my children. Depending on how you measure the data, skydiving and SCUBA are both right up there with the most dangerous (popular) pasttimes.

Recognize the inherant danger and risks you take when you act stupid, and you should be fine.

 

[wjsdive]

I agree that scuba is a safe sport and that if one of us dies tonite at the computer no one will blame it on the keyboard. Another point is there is almost always some training invloved prior to anyone donning scuba and diving whereas some of the other sports can be done with no training at all.
There is a certain amount of risk associated with all activity as well as the associated risk involved in no activity. I'd rather be doing something and I choose Scuba. The risks are acceptable.

 

[BKP]

According to DAN, a sampling in 2004, showed 88 diving related deaths in North America (US and Canada). Body Mass Indexing (BMI) data was available for 49% of those. 74% were overweight or obese. 45% obese or morbidly obese. (These figures are higher, of course, than the general population).

I get the impression that similar above water exertion or non-scuba related stressors would have the same result for many of these fatalities.

Diving in lousy shape can certainly have similar consequences to jogging in lousy shape, playing flag football in lousy shape, or hiking up the Appalachian Trail in lousy shape (however, hiking deaths simply aren't as spectacular or interest-evoking. and therefore not reported as "hiking deaths" as far as I know).

Equipment failure, which should be the only "scuba-classified" fatality (once you remove "operator error," training deficiencies, and basic poor judgement, all of which can happen driving your car, running your lawnmower, or re-wiring your rec-room), is a relatively rare incidence (also according to DAN).

Sooo... get in shape; refresh your training; service your equipment (BRING the proper equipment for the dive); and buddy check before each splash... Lower the lousy stats!

 

[ScubaTexan]

There is a risk analysis group in New England, Mass., I believe. Anyone know if then have ever done any type of risk assessment of scuba?

Isn't that why Ben Stiller's character refused the scuba lessons in Along Came Polly?

Are you for escuba??

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Isn't that why Ben Stiller's character refused the scuba lessons in Along Came Polly?

Are you for escuba??

Didn't see it, I was too busy diving.
Of coures, just seeing a Ben Stiller movie is probably more dangerous than pretty much anything.

J

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Diver error due to stupidity, laziness, lack of training or proper equipment for the dive, and to a large part the agencies convincing people who have no business around water period let alone on scuba that they can dive. Was just reading an article in the new Alert Diver mag about a shallow water diver cert. Full cert, unsupervised, but depth limited to 40 ft. Geared specifically towards the vacation diver who will only do a few dives a year in warm, clear water. Real smart move.