Scuba Deaths

[tedj01]

Statistical equivalent death rate to diving.

Can't prove it. Read it somewhere in a forum as well somewhat recently! About 10 - 13 years ago heard this from several DM's instructors. So this may be 1000th hand information.


That other high risk sport of bowling had the nearest death ratio as compared to scuba diving.

 

[ArcticDiver]

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

Really?

What makes you think this? Do you have any credible statistics to support this?

My understanding is that scuba has one of the lowest casualty rates. If you have any facts to support the idea that our sport/addiction is more dangerous than others I'll be happy to change my mind.

 

[wjsdive]

Let's not forget that the reporting of accidents and deaths can be statistically misrepresented. If you look hard enough Scuba can be proven to be as safe or as dangerous (take your pick) as Bowling.

 

[String]

My insurance company certainly doesn't class scuba as dangerous. No extra premium to dive to 30m on most travel policies here. If you want to do something like horse riding, jet ski, water ski etc there is an extra charge.

 

[J.R.]

Scuba is the only sport/hobby/activity that takes place in an enviroment that humans are not made to be in naturally. If our equipment fails and we lack a buddy and/or the proper training... we're done.

*ONLY*???

Let's see... last time I checked, any air involved sport (skydiving, flying or any X-games type activity) doesn't involve an environment we were naturally made for...

Driving down highways with closing speeds in excess of 110 mph and trying to miss the oncoming vehicle by a matter of feet at the last moment isn't an environment we were naturally made for...

Pretty much ANY urban environment (lots of sport there)...

Office buildings...

Climbing mountains... or high steel...

Etc., etc., etc.

Fact is... anything can be fatal if our equipment fails or we lack a buddy or proper training...

... it's all a matter of perspective.



I wouldn't get too excited... seems to me I've heard that more people drown in bathtubs... something we were theoretically made for...

 

[ArcticDiver]

Let's not forget that the reporting of accidents and deaths can be statistically misrepresented. If you look hard enough Scuba can be proven to be as safe or as dangerous (take your pick) as Bowling.

Actually, since there is not mandatory incident and accident reporting and analysis one cannot statistically represent or misrepresent.

One can, however, get some pretty good ideas from what is reported. What is reported supports the idea that scuba is a very safe sport. The most likely cause of a casualty while scuba diving is something that would have occured in any physically demanding activity; like heart attack.

It is counterintuitive but DCS seems to be a relatively minor cause of scuba casualties; although it gets a lot of discussion.

 

[plot]

*ONLY*???

Let's see... last time I checked, any air involved sport (skydiving, flying or any X-games type activity) doesn't involve an environment we were naturally made for...

Driving down highways with closing speeds in excess of 110 mph and trying to miss the oncoming vehicle by a matter of feet at the last moment isn't an environment we were naturally made for...

Pretty much ANY urban environment (lots of sport there)...

Office buildings...

Climbing mountains... or high steel...

Etc., etc., etc.

Fact is... anything can be fatal if our equipment fails or we lack a buddy or proper training...

... it's all a matter of perspective.



I wouldn't get too excited... seems to me I've heard that more people drown in bathtubs... something we were theoretically made for...

Well, I know if I take a bad fall on a mountain bike, I can lay there all day with a broken back while the rescue team comes and evacuates me.

I have a few precious minutes while scuba diving before I'm gonna need a rescue team to recover my corpse.

Driving down highways at 110mph we can survive just fine. We can breath and function normally... it's hitting the pavement at 110mph we have trouble with.

 

[TSandM]

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?

 

[serambin]

I just did a back of the envelope estimate bases on DANS 2006 repot and the probability of dieing in a diving accident is .0029 percent. Not really very high is it?

Stan

 

[ArcticDiver]

No question that scuba takes place in a potentially very lethal environment. But the OP stated that it has one of the highest death rates.

The first is unquestionably true. The second has no data I'm aware of to support it.