Category: Diving

Scuba diving is practiced by tens of thousands of people worldwide every day and is considered a significantly lower-risk activity than many other outdoor sports and recreation. Even such widespread activities as swimming, jogging, and quad biking have higher rates of fatal accidents than diving.

What is the probability of getting ill or injured while diving?

The most common medical problems associated with scuba diving are sunburn, seasickness, and dehydration (all easily preventable). In reality, there are very few diving-related injuries that require any medical attention. On average, there are only 1,092 diver casualties annually in the U.S. emergency.

Compared to other popular sports and outdoor activities, the statistics for medical attention in the United States are as follows:

• Diving – 1092 per year
• Snowboarding – 4438 per year
• Bowling – 19802 per year
• Volleyball – 57303 per year
• Fishing – 170216 per year
  Source: agency NCBI

Well, and what about sharks?

Dogs, snakes, crocodiles, and even hippos kill many more people yearly than sharks. In Australia alone, for example, there are approximately 20 horse-related fatalities annually – compared to only an average of 1.7 shark deaths per year since 1980: maybe it’s time to start Horse Protection Week? Most divers like sharks, and they try to remove unfair accusations from these animals.

What if I run out of air?

Your diving equipment includes a gauge that shows you how much air you have in your tank, just like the fuel gauge in your car. You will learn to check this sensor regularly, so it is very unlikely that you will run out of air during a dive. If you run out of air, your buddy has an additional air source (spare regulator) explicitly designed to share air with another diver. At the same time, you ascend to the surface together. Some divers also prefer to dive with a small backup air source.

Anyway, do people die while diving?

Unfortunately yes. As with any activity in the natural environment, there are inherent risks in diving that cannot be completely eliminated. However, with proper training and adherence to safe diving practices, the likelihood of a fatal accident is extremely low—in the United States, there were only 65 diving-related deaths of US citizens in 2019 (this is the latest year for which statistics are currently available). According to a survey by the Diver Alert Network (DAN) Foundation, the diver population is estimated at 3 million and the death rate is about 2 per 100,000, with “the rate looking relatively stable even over time”.

Compared to other common sports and recreational activities, the diving fatality rate is as follows:

Looking more closely at the statistics of diver deaths, we find that about 45 percent of diving deaths are health-related, with about 25 percent caused by heart disease, mainly in the elderly. One of DAN’s annual reports states: “Older, overweight divers with heart or blood pressure problems are at increased risk of diving deaths compared to younger, healthier divers. Fifty-three percent of the affected men and 54 percent of the women were over 50 years of age.”

You can find on our website the latest DAN Annual Report 2020, based on 2018 data.

Are there any other ways to mitigate the risks for yourself?

Of course, diving accidents are rarely the result of a single problem. Problems most often arise from a combination of several circumstances:

• Poorly or incompletely resolved problems generally escalate;
• Escalating difficulty creates stress;
• Stress makes problems worse and straining resources.

How do accidents occur?

• Exceeding level of training and ability
• Exceeding the range of the breathing gas
• Lack of standardization/team orientation
• Lack of situational awareness and planning
• Weak foundation of basic skills
• Improper or insufficient equipment:
  • Overweighting/insufficient lift
  • Inappropriate breathing gas
  • Poorly maintained equipment

Problems encountered by a well-focused team rarely result in accidents.

Accident Dynamics

Accident Prevention

Sound diving practices are the most crucial element in accident prevention:

• Dive planning
• Personal fitness
• Risk assessment
• A solid foundation of basic skills
• Teamwork and support
• Diving within personal limitation
• Standartization
• Situational awareness

Stress management

Stress is a reaction to any emergency and may result in:

• An inability to think clearly and rationally
• Increased breathing/heart rate
• Perceptual narrowing

Divers must recognize personal and team stress. Stress management is a cornerstone to safe diving.

• Stress must be controlled to prevent panic
• Panic is essentially uncontrollable

Factors leading to stress may include:

• Peer pressure
• Seasickness or injuries
• Poorly fitted equipment
• Fatigue
• Poor fitness
• Poisoning by CO₂ caused by increased shallow breathing

Managing Problems Underwater

The Thinking Diver

• A solid foundation of basic skills is crucial for maintaining a high level of situational awareness
• Such capacity is key to anticipating problems
• Further to this, solution thinking is essential for preventing problems from escalating into accidents

Solution thinking

• What has happened and with what result?
• What resources are intact within the team?
• What is the most efficient way to safely return to the surface/shore?

Insulating from Risk

• Diving should be fun with challenges that are selected responsibly
• Lack of standardization or teamwork, as well as careless planning, introduces unnecessary risks
• Situational awareness and a solid foundation of basic skills are key in preventing accidents
• The holistic training system insulates divers from risk while maximizing efficiency, safety, and fun.

And what, is scuba diving utterly safe in the end?

No, nevertheless, diving is considered a potentially hazardous activity and if you do not already have insurance covering the risks of diving, we recommend that you take out appropriate insurance for the duration of participation in diving courses, diving in caves, caverns, ocean and other diving activities.

The most professional diving insurance agency on the market today is DAN.

Cave Ha Diving Mexico is a DAN Europe partner. At your request, we can provide you with appropriate insurance for the duration of the courses and trips, as well as for the year.

You can learn the complete list of options at the following link.

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Have you ever wondered how diving training courses can be compared between diving training organizations? Are you uncertain if your “advanced diver” certification meets the dive center’s criteria for evidence?

Different terminology to say the same thing from different agencies

Although dive training organizations aim to train excellent divers, they may use different terms to convey the same message. Knowing equivalent ratings will help determine how your certification compares to other organizations. It will also inform you if you have the requirements for a course, especially if you have a certificate from one dive training organization and want to take a subsequent course with another.

Lately, we have received numerous calls and emails from individuals seeking confirmation regarding comparable ratings offered by different organizations. In response, we have created a table that outlines the equivalent ratings provided by three agencies listed under the WRSTC – SDI (Scuba Diving International), SSI (Scuba Schools International), and PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors).

On the chart below, you will see every dive training organization; their certifications are listed below. You can easily compare the ratings between different dive training organizations. If a certificate is not equivalent to the other organizations, the field will display “not applicable.”

Compare diver certifications with the equivalency chart (PADI, SDI, SSI)

	PADI	SDI	SSI
	Skin Diver	Snorkeler	Snorkel Diver
	Discover Scuba Diver	Scuba Discovery	TRY SCUBA DIVING
	Bubble Maker	Future Buddies	Scuba Rangers
	ReActivate™ – Scuba Refresher	Inactive Diver / Refresher	Scuba Skills Update
	Not Applicable	Shallow Water Diver	Not Applicable
	Not Applicable	Supervised Diver	Not Applicable
	Scuba Diver	Not Applicable	Scuba Diver
	Open Water Diver	Open Water Scuba Diver	Open Water Diver
	Not Applicable	Advanced Diver	Advanced Open Water Diver
	Rescue Diver	Rescue Diver	Diver Stress & Rescue
	Master Diver	Master Diver	Master Diver
	Not Applicable	Scubility Diver	Classified Diver
	Advanced Open Water Diver	Advanced Adventure Diver	Advanced Adventurer
	Peak Performance Buoyancy	Advanced Buoyancy Control	Perfect Buoyancy
	Altitude Diver	Altitude Diver	Altitude Diving
	Aware – Fish Identification	Marine Ecosystems Awareness Diver	Not Applicable
	Aware – Coral Reef Conservation Diver	Marine Ecosystems Awareness Diver	Not Applicable
	Boat Diver	Boat Diver	Boat Diving
	Cavern Diver	TDI Cavern Diver	Extended Range (XR) Cavern Diving
	Multilevel Diver	Computer Diver	Not Applicable
	Enriched Air Diver	Computer Nitrox Diver	Enriched Air Nitrox Diver
	EFR CPR & AED	CPROX 1st AED	REACT RIGHT
	Deep Diver	Deep Diver	Deep Diving
	Diver Propulsion Vehicle Diver	Diver Propulsion Vehicle	Not Applicable
	Discover Rebreather	TDI Rebreather Discovery	Not Applicable
	Drift Diver	Drift Diver	Not Applicable
	Dry Suit Diver	Dry Suit Diver	Dry Suit Diving
	Equipment Specialist	Equipment Specialist	Equipment Techniques
	Not Applicable	Full Face Mask Diver	FFM
	Ice Diver	Ice Diver	Ice Diver
	Project AWARE® Specialist	Marine Ecosystems Awareness Diver	Ecology
	Night Diver	Night/Limited Visibility Diver	Night & Limited Visibility
	Not Applicable	Research Diver	Not Applicable
	Search and Recovery Diver	Search and Recovery Diver	Search & Recovery
	Not Applicable	Shore/Beach Diver	Waves, Tides, & Current
	Sidemount Diver	Sidemount Diver	Recreational Sidemount Diving
	Self Reliant Diver	Solo Diver	Independent Diver
	Rebreather Diver	Not Applicable	Rebreather Diver
	Not Applicable	UW Hunter and Collector	Not Applicable
	Underwater Nagivator	UW Navigation Diver	Navigation
	Digital Underwater Photography	UW Photographer	Underwater Photography
	Underwater Videographer	UW Videographer	Not Applicable
	Not Applicable	Visual Inspection Procedures	Not Applicable
	Wreck Diver	Wreck Diver	Wreck Diver

All information presented in this table is current at the time of publishing. However, as organizations update their standards and introduce new courses, the information in this table may become outdated and subject to change without notice. Therefore, we recommend you refrain from copying or taking screen captures of this table, as it may not be accurate in the future.

If you haven’t been diving for an extended period, it is highly recommended that you take a refresher course. While there is no set timeframe, it is generally advised to take the approach after about a year. If that is your case, diving with a professional to refresh your knowledge and skills is still wise, even if you have already obtained certification.

Regardless of the dive training organization you choose, we hope you have a fantastic dive experience ordering our cave, cavern, and ocean guided tours or continue advancing your dive education.

If you want to discover the beauty of caverns but still need to obtain a diving certification, you can still take measures. In that case, we offer a complete set of recreational diving courses to become certified divers and join the underwater world in 3 days of intensive training.

For recreational divers who want to learn how to dive deeper and longer and take part in our technical and cave diving courses, we offer a set of all the tech diving courses from Essentials / Intro to Tech up to Full / Stage / Multistage cave courses.

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