DAN Annual Diving Report 2017 Edition: A Report on 2015 Diving Fatalities, Injuries, and Incidents

Abstract

The 30th DAN Annual Diving Report presents a summary of recreational scuba diving fatalities, injuries and incidents from 2015. There were 67 US or Canadian fatalities recorded, with Florida and California accounting for almost half of all fatalities in the US. Males accounted for 4 out of 5 deaths and 90% of all deaths were aged 40 years or older. Cardiovascular issues were a contributing factor in many deaths. The Medical Department received more than 11,500 medical inquiries in 2015, including more than 3,500 emergency calls. The most common injury involved ear or sinus barotrauma and there were 250 cases of decompression sickness. The Diving Incident Reporting System (DIRS) received another 107 incident reports in 2015, most commonly from the victim of the incident. Incidents most commonly occurred on the first day of diving, and more than half the divers had been certified for less than two years. Fatality and injury data are also presented from a number of international regions. A review of the last 30 years of the Annual Diving Report was conducted. The mean annual number of US and Canadian recreational diving fatalities has fallen since 1988 from 90 to 80 per year. Age data were available for 2,267 fatalities, 80% of which were male, and Body Mass Index (BMI) data for 1,219 fatalities. Over the 30 year period, US and Canadian recreational diving fatalities steadily increased in both age and BMI.