SCUBASAFETY

BSAC has reported on diving incidents since the early 1960s. During that time many changes have occurred in equipment and training and especially in diving medicine, and all have been reflected in the reports over the years. The incident reporting system has also evolved over that time, resulting in the current incident database which was implemented in 1998 and now represents a significant repository of diving incident data.

The nature of the database, based not just on tick boxes for factors but heavily orientated to word-rich detailed synopsis, means that when new situations, equipment or variations in

technique arise we are not constrained to waiting for further data in the future to build a coherent understanding of the situation. Some examples may serve to illustrate.

Immersion Pulmonary Oedema( IPO)

First described in the 1980s by Dr Peter Wilmshurst, the condition in divers was thought to be rare until Dr Wilmshurst started to see increased evidence of the condition in divers and open water swimmers. After Dr Wilmshurst presented at a BSAC Diving Conference in November 2017, BSAC began significant efforts to raise awareness of the condition to divers. Initially, a small number of incidents began to come to light and were reported in the 2018 Incident Report. These incidents were further used as evidence to underpin the continued raising of awareness of the risks and advice on avoidance or resolution. With two years of data and confidence in the identifying factors, a review of the database was conducted looking at the occurrence of key words within the synopses. This was used to categorise the likelihood of a diver experiencing signs and symptoms of IPO. The current report includes a figure illustrating Confirmed( via professional diagnosis or other verification), or Probable( three or more diagnostic criteria present).

Drysuit inversion

In the 2024 Annual Report we raised concerns that there seemed to be an increase in inversion incidents presented as a cause of uncontrolled ascents reported to BSAC in the last two years.

Again we were able to identify commonly used words to describe an inversion and were able to interrogate the database pulling out reports of drysuit divers who experienced migration of gas into the legs

Incidents

10 8 6 4 2 0

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Year

The frequency of confirmed and probable cases of IPO, 1997 to 2025

% of UK incidents involving drysuit inversion

Jan-Apr( early season)

7.1 %

May-Aug( mid season)

Sep-Dec( late season)

Analysis of incident reports involving drysuit inversion in the BSAC incident database since 2001, by five-year period and season

22