Diving Accident Investigations

Abstract

The risk of injury and death from diving varies with the nature of the diving. The mortality rate for offshore occupational divers approaches zero. By contrast, diving fishermen have a considerable mortality and morbidity rate. For example, prior to the introduction of a relevant code of practice, abalone divers in South Australia had an annual decompression illness (DCI) risk of almost 1 % and a prevalence of radiologically apparent dysbaric osteonecrosis of about 50 % [1]. By contrast, in Australasian recreational divers, for whom reasonable anecdotal exposure data exist, the incidence of DCI is approximately 1 for every 10,000 h of exposure, and the mortality rate is less than 1.5 deaths for every 100,000 h of exposure. Although these risks compare favourably with other adventure sports, they are nevertheless excessive and associated with considerable personal and social cost [2]. Careful investigation of accidents is required to identify causative factors so that corrective strategies can be identified and implemented.