Too many fatal diving incidents

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

"Mike Tomlinson" <mike@ukdivers.net> wrote ...

> I look after the diving newsfeeds for ukdivers.net and just lately (i.
> e. this season) there seems to be a awful lot more fatal diving
> incidents. Are we getting too adventurous or too complacent, or is
> this the norm?

As far as I am aware all is normal, the only change this year seems to be a
quicker and higher profile reporting of diving incidents. Any reasons for
the perceived rise can be hard to determine, if they ever are, until the
incident reports and analysis are published later this year.

Then you have the problem that you are dealing with very small numbers
overall, you cannot really determine patterns from one year, small changes
in those figures make for big headlines. For example : let's say the
incidents increased from 20 to 30 one year, what do you think would be
reported in the gutter press -

a) "There was an increase on fatal incidents from 0.00001% to 0.000015%"
b) "Diver fatalities rose by 50% this year"

Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
"prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

At present I am certainly reading nothing into what some are seeing as the
"alarming" rise in incidents. There may be something there, we simply wont
know until we can analyse them, what I can say though is that knee jerk
reactions will do nothing whatsoever to "fix" what may or may not be a
problem.

Cheers

Keith L

On 2005-08-23, Keith Lawrence <false@nospam.com> wrote:

> Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
> where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
> actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
> "prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

Interestingly, there seems to have been a significant rise last year in
the number of incidents involving men in the 40 - 55 age bracket with
undiagnosed medical problems.

The UK Sport Diving committee is adamant that this has nothing to do
with the removal of the requirement for a regular medical every 3
years for persons over 40 and every 1 year for persons over 50.

As someone in that age bracket, who was diagnosed with mild hypertension
during a completely unrelated visit to the doctors some 4 years after my
last routine medical, my personal opinion is that the UK Sport Diving
Committee should take another look at the evidence. But for the
grace of $DEITY, I could have discovered my medical problem at
depth where it probably would have been fatal.

To all of you over 40 : my advice is to go and get a medical,
even if you don't think there's anything wrong with you.

-- Pete

On 2005-08-23, Keith Lawrence <false@nospam.com> wrote:

> Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
> where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
> actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
> "prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

Interestingly, there seems to have been a significant rise last year in
the number of incidents involving men in the 40 - 55 age bracket with
undiagnosed medical problems.

The UK Sport Diving committee is adamant that this has nothing to do
with the removal of the requirement for a regular medical every 3
years for persons over 40 and every 1 year for persons over 50.

As someone in that age bracket, who was diagnosed with mild hypertension
during a completely unrelated visit to the doctors some 4 years after my
last routine medical, my personal opinion is that the UK Sport Diving
Committee should take another look at the evidence. But for the
grace of $DEITY, I could have discovered my medical problem at
depth where it probably would have been fatal.

To all of you over 40 : my advice is to go and get a medical,
even if you don't think there's anything wrong with you.

-- Pete

On 2005-08-23, Keith Lawrence <false@nospam.com> wrote:

> Then there are the causes (where known). A few years back we had a year
> where (IIRC) a significant number of the fatal diving incidents were
> actually due to heart attacks, I am sure that you could statistically
> "prove" that diving caused heart attacks if you looked at just that year!

Interestingly, there seems to have been a significant rise last year in
the number of incidents involving men in the 40 - 55 age bracket with
undiagnosed medical problems.

The UK Sport Diving committee is adamant that this has nothing to do
with the removal of the requirement for a regular medical every 3
years for persons over 40 and every 1 year for persons over 50.

As someone in that age bracket, who was diagnosed with mild hypertension
during a completely unrelated visit to the doctors some 4 years after my
last routine medical, my personal opinion is that the UK Sport Diving
Committee should take another look at the evidence. But for the
grace of $DEITY, I could have discovered my medical problem at
depth where it probably would have been fatal.

To all of you over 40 : my advice is to go and get a medical,
even if you don't think there's anything wrong with you.

-- Pete