What
causes most scuba diving accidents? We've got our hands on
some research into scuba diving accidents.
Explanation of terms:
•
Drowning:
Unaccounted for drowning / diver error
•
Arterial Gas Embolism:
Caused most often by the expansion of respiratory gases during
ascent, it also occurs when the breath is held during ascent
from a dive, when there is local pulmonary pathology, when
there is dynamic airway collapse in the non-cartilaginous
airways and if there is low pulmonary compliance, particularly
if this is not distributed evenly throughout the lungs.
•
Cardiac Incident:
Heart attack / stroke
•
Trauma:
Injury sustained while diving
•
DCS:
Refers to decompression sickness / illness
•
Loss of consciousness:
Unexplained loss of consciousness while diving
•
Inappropriate Gas:
Incorrect gas mix was cause of death
A new report says that common causes of Open-Circuit Recreational
Diving Fatalities examined 947 recreational diving fatalities
between 1992 and 2003. According to Dr. P.J. Denoble that
looking at these cases over a long period of time allowed
them to see patterns, not just in the causes of death (COD)
but in the events leading up to the deaths of these divers.
Drowning was the COD in 70% less of cases, but that proved
less important statistically than the disabling injuries that
caused the divers to drown, and 88% of the cases involved
one of three disabling injuries
How can I be a safer diver?
Over half of these diving accidents were caused by a cardiac
incident or Arterial Gas Embolism. Your heart and circulatory
system are more important in diving than in most sports, so
it's a good idea to make your heart is in good condition before
diving.
Before jumping in the water, get yourself heart-smart with
the following F.I.T formula to make sure you get the right
frequency, intensity and time in your exercise routine.
Frequency: For best cardiovascular fitness,
do aerobic exercise 5 to 7 days per week. Walking, jogging,
and biking are great outdoor exercises; cardio machines
like treadmills, elliptical and stationary bikes are also
best ways for indoor routine.
Intensity: Ensure you heart works at the
correct intensity during aerobic session. Subtract your
age from 220 to find your estimated maximum heart rate in
beats per minute (BPM). Your target heart rates should be
from 50 to 80% of your maximum BPM. So multiply your maximum
heart rate by 0.5, and again by 0.80 to get your target
heart rate range. When you do your exercise make sure you
check your pulse periodically to ensure your BPM stays within
the range.
Time: Each aerobic workout session should
last 30 to 45 minutes to get the maximum cardiovascular
benefit, but it?s ok to break your sessions into segments.
Try two or three 15 minutes intervals with a break in between
them.
Always remember the golden rule of scuba diving: Don't
hold your breath!
Scuba diving is still an incredibly safe sport when done
properly, with an fatal accident rate of approximately 1
death per 200,000 dives. This would mean to even be inside
the chances of having a fatal accident, statistically you'd
have to dive 12 times a day, every day, from the age of
18 years old to 65 years old: No breaks!
