Ask DAN
DAN medical specialists and researchers answer your dive medicine questions
What are common hazards to divers?
When DAN receives calls from divers who have symptoms after diving, decompression illness (DCI) is often on their mind. Cases of DCI, however, are incredibly rare. From ear problems to dehydration, vehicle accidents to lacerations, there are many kinds of problems a diver or traveller could face that are more common than DCI. In the course of researching and analysing incidents, DAN has learned a lot about dive safety, risk mitigation, and accident prevention. Here’s how you can apply what they learned to your dive adventures and travels.
What Harms Divers?
Drowning is the leading cause of death in dive fatalities; however, there are triggering events that lead to these tragic incidents — and these provide insight into how such accidents can be avoided. Health-related problems like heart disease and human-related issues like running out of gas, entrapment, or equipment failures can lead to drowning incidents, and these are also all examples of how dive fatalities stem from human factors that can be mitigated.
Take Care of Yourself
Personal readiness is the foundation of personal dive safety, and this encompasses health, physical conditioning, skills, and equipment. Your training, equipment, and health status should match the type of activities you plan to do. Fatigue and exhaustion may lead to poor decision making and are common triggers for incidents. These can be avoided through a weekly fitness regime. With properly working and maintained gear and appropriate training, human-related incidents can be mitigated, too. Read the manuals of your equipment to see when service is required and ask a professional if you have any problems or questions. With an upcoming trip, make sure your skills match up to the environmental conditions and requirements of each dive destination. When rough currents, gear troubles, and poor physical fitness are combined, they set divers up for trouble — which can be fatal underwater.
Other Preparations
Physical health and equipment are just a small part of the preparedness equation. Thorough dive planning can work in tandem with a dive computer and should not be overlooked. No-decompression limits set by the computer’s algorithms
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should be viewed as guidelines. Mental preparedness is a key factor in incident prevention, too. Fear, apprehension, and anxiety are all emotions that can compromise decisionmaking abilities. If you’re feeling frightened or have doubts, call off the dive.
Shift Your Focus
Decompression-related problems are just a fraction of the injuries and medical problems divers face. Because of this, a shift in focus is imperative to keep travelers and divers safe. Divers must not ignore other aspects of their activities and travels — no matter how mundane. The best defense against accidents is education, which will promote behaviour that reduces their likelihood. A heightened awareness and a mindset of prevention will help you stay safe above and below the water. DANAP.org
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