Each year, Divers Alert Network (DAN) publishes its Annual Diving Report, which was formerly known as the Annual Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities, and Project Dive Exploration. The most recent report serves as a sobering wake-up call, detailing four main reasons divers die in accidents.
Poor Health
As most of us are aware, it’s important to remain healthy – particularly if we want to enjoy diving. Nearly any health factor can have an adverse effect on diver safety, but some big ones to watch out for include heart disease, breathing difficulties, high blood pressure, dehydration, pre-existing injuries, obesity, or just a general lack of physical fitness. Being overweight, obese, or morbidly obese is cited as the largest contributing factor, with a shocking 74 percent of fatal cases involving divers who fit into these three categories. Approximately 15 percent of those who suffered fatal diving accidents were known to have heart disease or hypertension.
Environmental Issues
Even the easiest dive can end with an accident, and a number of the fatalities DAN reported on involved environmental issues, particularly when divers were out of practice, physically unable to handle challenges that arose, or were simply unprepared.
Procedural Errors
Procedural errors can cause all sorts of mishaps – some minor, some fatal. The procedural errors covered by DAN’s report include rapid ascents, buoyancy control problems, general skill limitations, failure to take decompression stops, equalization problems, and worst of all, failure to properly monitor breathing gas supply, resulting in both low on air and out of air emergencies. In some of the cases cited, divers stayed within the scope of their training but weren’t able to act in an emergency; in other cases, divers penetrated wrecks or caves, or exceeded depth limits despite lack of training. 26 percent of the fatalities involved emergency ascent precipitated by factors attributed to procedural errors. Equipment problems were cited in 8 percent of cases, entanglement or entrapment occurred in 9 percent of cases, and health problems accounted for another 9 percent. Inability to deal with conditions accounted for 10 percent of fatalities, and insufficient gas supply triggered 14 percent of cases.
Problems with Equipment
DAN’s most recent study revealed that very few fatalities were caused by equipment failure – but some deaths were attributed to this problem. Computer, drysuit, mask, or fin failures were involved in less than 3 percent of fatalities, weight systems were involved in 5 percent of deaths noted, regulator problems led to 6 percent of deaths, and BC problems were cited in 7.5 percent of the fatalities listed. It is very important to remember that the diver’s reaction to equipment failure and/or preparation for dealing with an equipment emergency likely impacted the ultimate outcome more than the equipment failure itself. Almost all equipment-related problems are preventable and can be observed before diving.
DAN’s research director, Dr. Peter Denoble, says it best: “While each accident may be different and some of them occur in an instant, most accidents can be represented as a chain of multiple events that lead to a deadly outcome. Removing any link from that chain may change the outcome.” By managing your health, evaluating the environment prior to diving, following standard safety procedures, and maintaining equipment, you can reduce your risk of becoming a tragic statistic – and enjoy all of your dives a whole lot more.