Important Reading for Cave Divers

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery

Most of you know this site already. If you have not taken the time to read the accident descriptions under the link "Accident Reports" I highly recommend it.

There is some very sobering reading in there. Many lessons to be learned in these descriptions and detailed analysis of over 20 cave diving fatalities.

The actual link http://www.iucrr.org/report_a.htm to the reports is here.

 

[karstdvr]

I think the graph in "Cave Diver's are Mortal" that shows a cumulative increase in accidents,maybe a reflection of the "Too Fast,Too Soon" article to some degree.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Thanks, Jim. We need to read things like this every now and then to keep it real.

 

[karstdvr]

There is some very sobering reading in there. Many lessons to be learned in these descriptions and detailed analysis of over 20 cave diving fatalities.

There never was a "Blue Print to Survival Vol 2",so it is good to be reminded of the basis of our sport and use critical thinking to analyze accidents.

Something else that is sobering too is the dramatic increase of fatalities related to medical conditions. I think this is a function of increase in the median age of longer term cave divers,plus the advent of people who normally would never consider cave diving. The physical form that we are handed should not be taken lightly,and every endeavor made to make sure we are capable in engaging a sport where we carry heavy weight,subject ourselves to physiological extremes,and exertion against heavy currents.

Thanks Jim for these reminders

 

[loosebits]

I find my self re-reading those incidents a couple of times a year. It's a great tool to keep complacency at bay.

 

[PerroneFord]

Funny timing.. I was reading those reports about a month ago, and a friend IMed me while I was reading them and asked if I wanted accident reports from Ontario that he had sitting around. Just out of the blue.

Today, I brought in those Ontario reports, and Jim posts this.

Too weird.

 

[Johnny Richards]

Similar information may also be found in the "Incidents Report" section of past issues- pre-97?- of both Underwater Speleology and the NACD Journal. It is my understanding that both the NSS-CDS and NACD are in the process of archiving past issues to be made available for sale on disc at some future time.

The December, 2005 issue of Underwater Speleology also has detailed analysis of a number of cave fatalities.

Johnny Richards
www.cavediving.com

 

[Dive-aholic]

Check out post 20 and 25 in this thread. I'm pretty sure this person is talking a lot of crap, but it not, this could be the next incident.

 

[Crazyduck]

While this is an interesting body of work the IRAP listings at cavediver.net is a lot more informative to me. It helps that a diver tell their almost accident and how they resolved those problems verses a body recovery.
Link- http://www.cavediver.net/irap/irap_frm.htm

This nothing against Jim…
But I have lost faith in the ICURR reports for their reliability and content.
There are missing elements and facts- that would be called politics….

Again, I want to stress that I have the highest regards for Mr. Wyatt and this is my personal opinion. Take what you read with a gain of salt.

Hopefully, future updates to basic blueprint to survival in the future will include.
Changes in batteries duration, scooters advances, canister lights, advanced trimix computers, radio frequency links and rebreathers.

As well as maintenance to regulators and life support equipment- recent HSE reporting out of England has had some interesting details of regulator failures.

I would like to see a standard for checklists (per model) added for complex functions or devices such as Trimix computers and closed circuit rebreathers.

Regards to all, Andrew

 

[karstdvr]

This nothing against Jim…
But I have lost faith in the ICURR reports for their reliability and content.
There are missing elements and facts- that would be called politics….

Reading IRAP is good,kind of like Rodales "Scuba Diving" -I learned section,but tends to be very narrative and personnal.

IUCRR takes an accident and gets the facts where a living witness is not available,and tries to disseminate the information. Things may not be timely because getting all the facts straight can be time consumming due to all levels involved such as divers and law enforcement. The advantage of IUCRR stats is these are correlated to show trends,and this information goes to different agencies to address a problem if one exists.

Can you give examples of where facts are missing,especially if tainted by "politics"?