i do not know where to post this message .iI am part of the DIS-uk network board and a discussion came up about what causes diver fatalities and then then this message came from Paul Thomas's wife who i belive as i have never met them, is the same Dr Paul Thomas who posts on this board.
"QUOTE"
Here is another statistic my husband Paul Thomas suffered a near fatal diving accident at stony cove on this Thursday he is intensive care and crtical may end up with brain damage so thank you divers one and all.
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart M
To: dis-uk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [DIS-UK] Re: Cheerful question: How do divers die?!
>Why not for public consumption? Surely if it's publically funded and
>doesn't compromise national security (which these figures don't!) the
>public are entitled to find out about it?
Wasn't this eventually published? I seem to remember a report along a
similar line being pubished a few years ago, though it may not have been the
same one. I recall the newspapers had fun with it by picking out the more
bizarre incidents.
I seem to recall also DAN doing a study of incidents a few years ago too
which they published in their mag. IIRC According to their stats, the
biggest cause of fatality in divers over the age of 40 was heart attack.
When you read through any incident reports, by and large the main causes are
generally diving beyond a diver's abilities and experience. It isn't really
news, it was the key factor in the incidents which Sheck Exley studied for
his "Blueprint for Survival" paper. Unfortunately, "diving beyond ability"
covers a broad spectrum of mistakes. A diver who goes into blind panic is
diving beyond his ability as he was not able to react calmly to the
situation. A diver who dives on a rebreather that was giving warning signals
on the surface but cured the problem by banging the handset is diving beyond
his ability to safely use his kit. A diver with 10yrs experience who forgets
to look at his gauges often enough on just one dive is beyond his ability.
So what are the real reasons then? Not being perfect I guess. Many of the
stories, you can see the outcome coming a mile off with just a brief
description of the set-up, in others maybe it is the downright stupid being
weeded out of the gene pool -- a harsh thing to say but there are far too
many incidents where the cause is so obvious that stupidity is the only
explanation. A few are just sheer bad luck.
At the end of the day, diving is a dangerous sport. My gripe is not with
instructors, or whoever, but with the muppets who decided that diving can be
done by everyone and anyone. It isn't, it takes an amount of intelligence,
dexterity, common sense and physical fitness that not everyone has. The vast
majority of incidents that get coverage are generally caused by a lack of at
least one of these traits. It is a sport that can kill in a second, and
does, and people need to realise that. PADI's "Diving for all" mallarkey a
few years back was the prime example of it. Technical diving recently went
through the throes of it too and it seems to me that cave diving is the
current victim. That doesn't mean we should marginalise dangerous sports but
more awareness of the downsides is required.
Rant over.
As Tom Wolfe wrote in The Right Stuff, the prayer is not "please Lord, don't
let me f**k up" but "please Lord, don't let anybody see".
Cheers,
Stuart
DIS-UK: This list is dedicated to Diving It Simple and Safe. The material on this list is private to the list members. Do not cross post it without permission of the author. To Post a message, send it to: dis-uk@eGroups.com
I hope you will all join me in offering prayers and hope to all the family that there is a full recovery .
MAL..
"QUOTE"
Here is another statistic my husband Paul Thomas suffered a near fatal diving accident at stony cove on this Thursday he is intensive care and crtical may end up with brain damage so thank you divers one and all.
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart M
To: dis-uk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [DIS-UK] Re: Cheerful question: How do divers die?!
>Why not for public consumption? Surely if it's publically funded and
>doesn't compromise national security (which these figures don't!) the
>public are entitled to find out about it?
Wasn't this eventually published? I seem to remember a report along a
similar line being pubished a few years ago, though it may not have been the
same one. I recall the newspapers had fun with it by picking out the more
bizarre incidents.
I seem to recall also DAN doing a study of incidents a few years ago too
which they published in their mag. IIRC According to their stats, the
biggest cause of fatality in divers over the age of 40 was heart attack.
When you read through any incident reports, by and large the main causes are
generally diving beyond a diver's abilities and experience. It isn't really
news, it was the key factor in the incidents which Sheck Exley studied for
his "Blueprint for Survival" paper. Unfortunately, "diving beyond ability"
covers a broad spectrum of mistakes. A diver who goes into blind panic is
diving beyond his ability as he was not able to react calmly to the
situation. A diver who dives on a rebreather that was giving warning signals
on the surface but cured the problem by banging the handset is diving beyond
his ability to safely use his kit. A diver with 10yrs experience who forgets
to look at his gauges often enough on just one dive is beyond his ability.
So what are the real reasons then? Not being perfect I guess. Many of the
stories, you can see the outcome coming a mile off with just a brief
description of the set-up, in others maybe it is the downright stupid being
weeded out of the gene pool -- a harsh thing to say but there are far too
many incidents where the cause is so obvious that stupidity is the only
explanation. A few are just sheer bad luck.
At the end of the day, diving is a dangerous sport. My gripe is not with
instructors, or whoever, but with the muppets who decided that diving can be
done by everyone and anyone. It isn't, it takes an amount of intelligence,
dexterity, common sense and physical fitness that not everyone has. The vast
majority of incidents that get coverage are generally caused by a lack of at
least one of these traits. It is a sport that can kill in a second, and
does, and people need to realise that. PADI's "Diving for all" mallarkey a
few years back was the prime example of it. Technical diving recently went
through the throes of it too and it seems to me that cave diving is the
current victim. That doesn't mean we should marginalise dangerous sports but
more awareness of the downsides is required.
Rant over.
As Tom Wolfe wrote in The Right Stuff, the prayer is not "please Lord, don't
let me f**k up" but "please Lord, don't let anybody see".
Cheers,
Stuart
DIS-UK: This list is dedicated to Diving It Simple and Safe. The material on this list is private to the list members. Do not cross post it without permission of the author. To Post a message, send it to: dis-uk@eGroups.com
I hope you will all join me in offering prayers and hope to all the family that there is a full recovery .
MAL..
