The British Sub-Aqua Club National Diving Committee Diving Incidents Report 2011 Compiled by Brian Cumming Diving Safety and Incidents Advisor Published by The British Sub-Aqua Club in the interests of diving safety NDC Diving Incidents Report - 2011 Introduction This booklet contains the 2011 Diving Incidents Report, produced by The British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) in the interest of promoting diving safety. It is important to note that it contains details of UK sports diving incidents occurring to divers of all affiliations, plus incidents occurring worldwide involving BSAC members. The 2011 ‘Incident Year’ ran from 1st October 2010 to 30th September 2011. Report Format The majority of statistical information contained within this report is also shown in graphical form. Please note that all statistical information is produced from UK data only and does not include Overseas Incidents unless noted as ‘All Incidents’. The contents of this report are split into an overview of the year, and then the details of nine incident categories plus some historical analyses. The various sections can be found as shown below:- i) Overview Page 1 ii) Fatalities Page 6 iii) Decompression Incidents Page 8 iv) Injury / illness Page 19 v) Boating & Surface Incidents Page 27 vi) Ascent Incidents Page 35 vii) Technique Incidents Page 40 viii) Equipment Incidents Page 41 ix) Miscellaneous Incidents Page 43 x) Overseas Incidents Page 44 xi) Numerical & Statistical Analyses Page 47 xii) List of Abbreviations Page 49 Within each category the incidents are listed in the order of their occurrence, not necessarily that of Incident Reference. They are laid out in the following form: MONTH/YEAR OF INCIDENT INCIDENT REF. Brief Narrative of Incident.................................................................................... ........................................................................................................ The nature of many diving incidents is such that there is usually more than one cause or effect. Where this is the case the incident has been classified under the more appropriate cause or effect. For instance an incident involving a fast ascent, causing decompression illness, will be classified under 'Decompression Incidents'. Brian Cumming, BSAC Diving Incidents Advisor, February 2012 Acknowledgements Data for this report are collected from several different sources. I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the following for their assistance in its production and in ensuring its completeness: Ken Bazeley, National Diving Liaison Officer, Maritime & Coastguard Agency Peter Chennell, Sea Safety Manager, Roger Aldham, Data Quality Supervisor, Carole Brown, Data and Statistical Analyst, Royal National Lifeboat Institution MOD Superintendant of Diving Mark Caney, PADI Europe, Middle East and Africa Jim Watson for invaluable HQ support Dr. Yvonne Couch for proof reading this report and, in particular, all of those divers and other sources who have taken the trouble to complete Incident Reports and share their learning experience with others. NDC Diving Incidents Report - 2011 Overview has seen 375 UK diving incidents reported. This Incidents by category 2011 is entirely in line with recent years, as the graph The incident database assigns all incidents into one of nine below shows. The number of incidents reported major categories, and the following chart shows the distribution rose progressively during the 90s to peak at around 440 of the 2011 incidents into those categories. incidents per year. In recent years this number has dropped back a little and is now, typically, around 380. Number of reported incidents Categorisation of the year’s incidents 500 Boat / surface DCI 400 Inj ury / Il lness Ascents 300 Fatalities Miscellaneous 200 Equi pment Techni que 100 Overseas 0 0 2 0 40 60 8 0 1 00 120 Number of incidents 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Incident year 108 'Boating and Surface' incidents were recorded in the 2011 incident year making it the biggest single category; it is ten years since this group has topped the list. This category mainly comprises of problems with boat engines (engine failure and out of fuel) and lost diver(s). There had been a strong downward trend in the ten year period starting in the late 90s but in recent years the numbers have jumped back up and this The distribution of reported incidents by month is shown in the year's record continues that trend. following chart and it follows the normal pattern, with 71% of the dives taking place in the summer months. This pattern reflects The next largest category is DCI with 103 incidents reported. the fact that much more diving is conducted in the summer than Normally this is the largest group and the total this year is very in the winter. The spike in April and dip in May is a little much in line with the average of previous recent years. unusual but Easter was in April and we had some very good weather at that time, which, no doubt, encouraged more people The third category is 'Illness and Injury' with 84 incidents to go diving. reported. The bulk of this is thought to be cases of DCI. But these cases are reported through the RNLI and their reports do not specifically record DCI, they often just state ‘Diver illness’. Incidents by month For this reason it is not possible to distinguish cases of DCI from other diver ailments. This category is about 20% higher 80 that the average of recent years but this is not thought to be 70 significant. 60 50 ‘Ascents’ is the fourth category and this involves incidents 40 where divers have made an abnormal ascent but avoided DCI 30 or other injury. This category peaked in 2006 and has been 20 steadily falling since that time. It is good to see that this trend 10 has continued in the 2011 incident year. 48 'Ascent' related 0 incidents were reported and one has to go back to 1999 to find a lower number. A lot of effort has been put into improving Sept. July Aug. diver buoyancy control and these numbers reflect the beneficial June May Apr. Feb. Mar. changes that have been made. Dec. Nov. Jan. '11Jan. Oc t. '10 The last category to be mentioned specifically is ‘Fatalities’ and although the numbers are quite small it is, of course, the most serious. This year saw 11 diver fatalities; this is substantially lower than the average of the preceding ten years which was 15.8. More analysis on these key incident categories is given later in the report. ©BSAC - 2012 1 NDC Diving Incidents Report - 2011 Incident depths noted. This partially explains the large occurrence of ‘Surface’ The following chart shows the maximum depth of the dives cases as this includes divers with DCI who have left the water. during which incidents took place, categorised into depth range Other surface incidents involve boats and boating incidents and groupings. divers who are lost but on the surface. The depth profiles are consistent with previous years. Maximum depth of dive involving an incident Diver qualifications The next two charts show the qualification of those BSAC Unknown members who were involved in reported incidents. The first looks at the diver qualification. Surf. 1-1 0m 11-2 0m 21-3 0m Qualification of the divers involved in incidents 31-4 0m 41-5 0m Snorkel 51-6 0m >6 0m Novice 0 20 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 00 1 20 14 0 16 0 18 0 200 220 Club/Ocean Number of incidents Sports Diver The pattern of depths in the 0m to 50m range is very similar to D iv e Le ader that normally seen and reflects the amount of diving that takes place in these depth ranges. Advance d The number of incidents reported in the greater than 50m 1s t C la ss ranges is 6, a little lower than most previous years. However it is worth noting that 2 of these 6 incidents involved fatalities. 0 1020304050 BSAC advises that no air dive should be deeper than 50m, and Number of divers that dives to 50m should only be conducted by divers who are appropriately trained and qualified. The recommended limit for divers trained to Sports Diver These data are in line with the normal pattern of previous years standard is 35m and then only when they have received and are thought to reflect the number of divers in these appropriate training for diving at this depth. qualification grades. BSAC recommends that helium mixtures are used for depths deeper than 40m and that mixed gas diving should be to a maximum depth of 80m. Mixed gas dives should only be The next chart shows an analysis of incident by instructor conducted when the diver holds a recognized qualification to qualification and again it is consistent with previous years. conduct such dives. See the BSAC website for more details of these and other diving depth limit recommendations. Qualification of instructors involved in incidents The next chart shows the depths at which incidents started. Depth at which an incident started Unknown Snorkel Unknown Surf. Ass is tant 1-1 0m Club 11-2 0m Open Water 21-3 0m 31-4 0m Adva nc ed 41-5 0m National 51-6 0m 01020 >6 0m Number of instructors 0 20406080100120140160 Number of incidents The low number for ‘Club’ instructor almost certainly reflects the fact that this qualification is no longer part of the instructor Inevitably the data are biased towards the shallower depths development programme. since many incidents happen during the ascent or at the surface. Critical among these are the DCI cases where almost always the casualty is out of the water before any problems are 2 ©BSAC - 2012 NDC Diving Incidents Report - 2011 Divers’ use of the Emergency Services Divers’ use of SAR helicopters by month Divers’ use of the emergency services shows a monthly 50 distribution aligned to the distribution of all incidents, and is 45 clearly correlated with the number of dives that are taking place.