DIVING

3. Diving Incident Reporting System
16
14
Number of incident reports
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of diving days before incident
Figure 3-2 Number of days in the diving series when the incident occurred
Familiarity with the incident dive site was reported in 66 cases. In 34 of those cases (52%), the diver was diving at the
site for the first time while 32 incidents (48%) occurred during return visits. The majority of incidents (59%) took place
during the first dive of the day, 27% during the second dive and 14% the third dive. Inexperience featured prominently
in reported incidents, with 68% of reports involving divers with less than two years since first certified to dive. Indeed, of
the 70 divers who reported their training status, 12 divers (17%) reported having no formal training. Four divers reported
having made 2000 dives or more, (two of those 5000 lifetime dives each). The mean number of dives made by the fifty
other divers who reported their experience was 137 dives (range 0-900). The mean number of dives made within the
previous year, for all divers, was 31 dives (range 1-107) and within the previous month 7 dives (range 1-12).
Characteristics of the divers involved in reported incidents are given in Table 3-1.
Table 3-1 Characteristics of divers involved in reported incidents
Male (n=55) Female (n=15) Overall (n=70, range)
Age 46 (range 17-71) 42 (range 14-64) 45 (range 14-71)
Body Mass Index 22 (n=41, range 13-38) 22 (n=12, range 16-49) 22 (n=53, range 13-49)
Nine of the reports (12%) involved the use of rebreathers while 65 (88%) involved open circuit diving. Four incidents
(5%) occurred at the surface, depth was not reported in 27 cases (36%) and among the remaining 43 reports (60%)
mean depth was 21 msw (69 fsw). Where reported depth was greater than 0 msw (0 fsw), the mean maximum depth of
the dive site was 27 msw (89 fsw). The mean maximum depth ever reached by the diver affected by the incident (n=52
reported, 70%) was 41 msw (135 fsw).
Annual Diving Report – 2012-2015 Edition
67