Latest BSAC incident report finds UK scuba diving fatalities were up on 2022 but down compared to previous years – while Dive Leaders make up the bulk of logged incidents
The British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) Annual Diving Incident Report for 2023 has been published, with a total of 242 incidents and nine fatalities recorded throughout the UK, plus an additional 113 reported from overseas.
The number of recorded diving incidents represents an almost complete return to pre-pandemic levels of activity. The last pro-covid Annual Diving Incident Report of 2019 recorded 354 incidents, of which 13 were fatal.
By way of comparison, the 2021 report recorded a total of 235 incidents with 16 fatalities for the year, and 2022’s report contained 248 incidents of which six were fatal – the lowest number of UK scuba diving fatalities in a normal diving year since 1977.
BSAC has been compiling annual reports on diving incidents in the UK since 1965, with data gathered from a variety of sources including members of the via the BSAC incident reporting system, together with annual reports from institutions such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), MOD Superintendent of Defence Diving, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Water Incident Database (WAID).
Data from other training agencies including PADI, RAID and IANTD also contribute to the report, and BSAC uses a media searching service to gather reports of diving-related incidents in the press.
Related articles:
The most reported category of incident in 2023 was ‘injury’, with a significant increase over the five-year average, although the authors note that the category tends to be used when it is not possible to place the incident in one of the other categories due to a lack of information.
Cases of decompression illness were commensurate with the five-year average, and cases of equipment failure slightly under. BSAC notes that incident reports from overseas were ‘dominated by reports of failures to mask and fin straps’ – probably due to problems with equipment not having been used for some time.
Retroactive IPO analysis
As awareness of Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO) continues to grow, the report’s authors say that BSAC has recently refined its process for determining if IPO is relevant to an incident.
For several years now, BSAC has been painstakingly trawling through its database and reanalysing incidents for signs that IPO may have been involved, in some cases using evidence garnered from coroner’s reports.
In its 2020 annual report, the club published a statistic showing that 24 cases of IPO had been confirmed between 1997 and 2018, but logged a further 160 incidents where it was a possible factor.
In the 2023 incident report, the authors have published a retroactive analysis in which IPO is now recorded as ‘confirmed’, ‘possible’, and ‘probable’, lending further weight to the argument that IPO is, potentially, the single biggest killer of scuba divers.
Experience no barrier to incidents
One of the most striking statistics of the 2023 Annual Diving Incident Report is the increase in the number of Dive Leaders – the BSAC equivalent of Divemasters – who were logged as casualties.
Although no reason has been found for the sudden jump, and there has been no significant increase in the number of divers certified as Dive Leaders, the authors write that it is ‘perhaps a salutary lesson that no matter your qualification or experience you are not immune to becoming the subject of an incident, and that we should never be complacent about
our own safety or the safety of our buddies no matter how experienced they are.’
The full report is available as a free download from the BSAC website.
Divers from all agencies, whether recreational or technical, beginner or professional, can submit incident reports to the database, which over the long term contributes – and has contributed – to the development of scuba diving safety best practices. To report an incident and help improve diving safety, use the online report form at bsac.com/reportanincident
- British diver’s 2019 death in Australia may have been IPO linked to alcoholism - 11 December 2024
- Tributes paid as body of missing Cornwall diver found - 11 December 2024
- Shark and ray populations halved by overfishing in last 50 years - 10 December 2024
