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Trends in Scientific Diving

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Trends in Scientific Diving und nvater /SSN 0/41 0814. /nternationaIJourna/ ofthe Society for Underwater Techno/ag)!, Vol26, Na 2, pp 51-55, 2005 TECHNOLOGV Trends in scientific diving: an analysis of scientific -ca C.) diving operation records, 1970-2004 .-e J: C.) ~ MD] SAYER and] BARRINGTON UK Natiollal Faciliry Jor Scienlific Divillg, Scottish AssocialiollJor Marille Science, Dunstqffizage Marine Lahoralo1)\ Ohan, UK Abstract As with any professional activity, understanding the risks assoeiated with operations tllat are pereeived a~ haz- A detailed trend analysis was made of 8611 scientific ardous can inform an employer's approach to sclf regula- diving operation records undertaken at the tion, can influence centralised government approaches to Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory between 1970 and regulating potentially dangerous professional activities, 2004. The analysis represented 15 711 separate per- and can inform insuring bodies.7 Within the UK Diving son dives and a total of 285512 minutes of diving time. Industry obtaining good quality information for the dif- Specific trends were highly influenced by predominant ferent sectors is diffieult as fe"'~if any, maintain eomplete project areas during specific periods of the analysis. datasets from their members. Based largcly on informed However, most diving was relatively shallow with only estimates the risks associated with diving within speeifie 0-12% of annual dive duration at depths of 30m or sectors show considerablc variance.7 Obtaining realistic or greater, and the majority (32-87%) being in the 10-29m accurate analyses of risk by sector may be benefieial in depth range. Diving was undertaken throughout the either identifYing pOOl' diving praetiees 01', if good, tllen year and average dive depth and duration were not obtaining more preferablc insurance premiums on a sec- influenced by month. One incident of decompression ill- tor by sector basis. ness (DCI) occurred within the dives analysed yielding a Records of all the diving operations undertaken at DCI incidence rate of 0.12 per 1000 dives or 0.06 per the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory have been main- 1000 person dives. This level of incident is within the tained and archived from the ineeption of the Diving Unit range for previous studies on SCUBA diving (0.07-0.14) in 1970 and are analysed here to the end of 2004. but below reported incident rates for wreck and/or Analysis of these records offers the opportunity of profIl- multi-day recreational diving (0.25-0.49). However, it is ing tlle type of diving undertaken by a scientifie institution suggested that true inter-sector comparisons of esti- in addition to analysing tlle safety record of such a faciJity. mated risk to the individual diver can only be made when expressing DCI rates in relation to person dives. 2. Materials and methods Average numbers of divers per dive in 'at work' opera- tions will usually be below two; some recreational dives The present analysis of diving trends at Dunstaflhage is may have many more than two divers per dive. based on diving operation records maintained between January 1970 and December 2004. During this period 1. Introduction tl1ere were a number of ehanges in tl1eguidance as to what information was required to be maintained as arecord of The UK Diving Industry is divided into five major sec- a diving operation. However, each of the records analysed tors where the divers are at work. I These are offshore for tlns study contained at least: tlle names of the divers diving operations mainly concerned with the support of involved in the diving operation, tl1e maximum deptll of commercial hydrocarbon extraction,2 the inland! tl1e dive undertaken and the total time for tlle dive. All inshore sector acting in support of civil engineering or depths initially measured in feet were converted to metrcs. shell fishing activities/ the media sector which covers All tl1e diving operation records were convertcd to professional photography or film making,4 the recre- person-dives dependent on the number of divers ational sector covering professional training of recre- employed for each operation. The maximum dcpth and ational divers,' and the scientific and archaeological sec- tl1e total duration for the dives were collated by montll tor employed in the pursuit of scientific 01' archaeolog- and year. The dive durations were also collated by month 1 ical reward. ; In addition to these five major sectors, div- and year depending on the ma..ximum depth reached and ing in the UK is dominated numerically by amateur allocated to four deptl1 ranges (0-9m, 10-19m, 20-29m leisure divers. There are also significant diving opera- and 30m 01' greater). The number of person dives, total tions undertaken by the police and the armed forces, dive duration, average maximum depth, and average dive who, although 'at work', are classified differently to the duration were all calculated botl1 by montll and by yeal: other professional diving sectors. The depth distributions were calculated by year only. 51 Sayer & Barrington. Trends in scientific diving 1800.0 3. Results w- .!: 1600.0 E total :;;- 1400.0 A of 8611 diving operation records were inc1uded i: ~ 12000 in the analysis representing 15 711 separate person ~ dives and a total of 258 812 minutes of diving time. .,~ 1000.0 Over the whole period, the average number of person .,E., 800.0 > 600.0 dives per month was 37.6 (range of 0 to 142: n=420), '6., with the levels being slightly greater during the summer Ol 400.0 ~•• months (May to August) and lower during the winter ~ 200.0 ones (October to March: Fig I). Over the total period 0.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec tl1erewere some obvious interannual trends in monthly Month averages with higher levels from 1970 to 1983, 10wer Fig 3: The average (± 1sd) total dive time (mins) by levels from 1983 to 1992, and levels approximating to month undertaken at Dunstaffnage between 1970- average from 1992 to 2004 (Fig 2). 2004. The dashed horizontal line represents the dive The trend in average total time underwater per time per month averaged for the total study period montl1 was similar to tl1efigures for average number of .c 3000 total E person dives per month. The average monthly dive o time over the whole period was 679.8 minutes (range 0 ~ 2500 to 3851; n=420) witl1 tl1e trend for longer summer a. ~ 2000 cumulative levelscompared with the winter months, and ., ~'iiJ witl1 higher levels in the 1970s and early 1980s com- '6.!: 1500 '6'.E. lJl 80 ::: 1000 .;t. lJl ., ., 70 > ~ 500 '6 ., 5 60 ~ ~ ~ 50 Ö Year t 40 .<:1 § 30 Fig 4: The average (± 1sd) monthly dive time (mins) by .,c year undertaken at Dunstaffnage between 1970-2004. .,~ 20 ~ 10 The dashed horizontalline represents the dive time per month averaged for the total study period ~ ~b Mar ~r M~ Jun Jul ~g ~p ~ ~ ~ Month pared with post-1982 (Figs 3 and 4, respectively). Fig 1: The average (± 1sd) number of person dives per With the total durations and numbers of dives per month by month undertaken at Dunstaffnage between month following similar trends, it would be expected 1970-2004. The dashed horizontalline represents the that dive duration would remain similar throughout number of person dives per month averaged for the the study period. The average dive duration was 31.9 total study period minutes (range of monthly averages was 13.5 to 70.5; n=420) and monthly durations deviated little from Fig 2: The average (± 1sd) person dives per month by year the overall mean (Fig 5). However, when examined undertaken at Dunstaffnage between 1970-2004. The by year, dive durations were consistently above aver- dashed horizontalline represents the number of person age during the period 1972 to 1980 and mostly bclow dives per month averaged for the total study period average after that (Fig 6). The average maximum dive 120 .c depths ranged from 3.3 to 35.8m i: 110 o (n=420) with an overall monthly e 100 average of 13.3m (n=420); there was ~ 90 no obvious monthly trend (Fig 7). .~8l 80 "'Cl c 70 Maximum deptl1sper year remained .,~ 60 elose to tl1e overall average, apart ;: 50 from the periods 1970-1971 (abovc lJl ":' 40 average) and 1973-1975 (belowaver- 130 ., age; Fig 8). Although tl1e average i' 20 ~ 10 maXImum depth varied littlc o throughout the recording period, when expressed in terms of tl1e div- 52 und rwat r TECHNOLOGY 'VoI26, No 2, 2005 ing duration at depth, 31.9% of the diving was in the 0- but was Iess than 20% for 11 out of the 19 years far the 9m range, 56.4% was between 10 and 19m, 9.6% in the period 1986-2004 (Fig 9). This decline was mostly made 20-29m range, and 2.1% in 30m 01' greater. However, this up by an increase in the proportion of diving undertaken distribution changed throughout the study period most in the 10-19m depth range, which accounted [01' 1essthan markedly for the 0-9m range which accounted for over 40% of the total dive duration for the period 1973-1975 60% of the total dive duration far the period 1973-1975 but was greater than 60% for 14 out of the 19 years for 60.0 30 lii' _ 55.0 l!! Gi 25 .~'" 50.0 §. J: ~ 45.0 o I 20 ., "0 ~ 40.0 " 15 "0" 35.0 :6 > '6' 'ö" 30.0 ~'" 10 "g> 25.0 .:!:. ~ 20.0 " 4( E 5 15.0 ~ 4( 10.0 Jen Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dee Month Year Fig 5: The average (±1sd) dive duration (mins) by Fig 8: The average (± 1sd) maximum dive depth per month undertaken at Dunstaffnage between 1970- month (metres) by year undertaken at Dunstaffnage 2004.
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