The Major Cause of Dive Accidents

When asked to identify the main causes of diving accidents or near misses, U.S. Navy divers identified nontechnical rather than mechanical or environmental causes. Complacency, followed by fatigue and inexperience, was the most common reply.

In a review of 1,000 recreational diving mishaps, inexperience and insufficient training accounted for 14 percent and 8 percent respectively of the contributing factors to the mishap. Also, in a review of 109 recreational diving fatalities that occurred in 2003, nearly 45 percent of victims had not dived in the 12 months prior to their mishaps.

Dr. P.E. O’Connor, The nontechnical causes of diving accidents, Society of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, Vol. 34, No 1.