In 2012 DAN released a tool for divers to report dive accidents to help us quantify their severity and frequency. We revitalized the reporting process to make it easier and more efficient and relaunched it in 2021. The Dive Incident Reporting System (DIRS) is anonymous and has no impact on your status or insurance. Our goal is to identify dive accident trends so we can make better recommendations and keep diving safe and fun.
We’ve collected more than 300 dive-related incidents, ranging from near-misses to fatal accidents. Nearly 60% of the reports were self-reported, meaning the reporting individual experienced the accident. We collect reports of all types of diving including breath-hold (freediving and snorkeling), open-water, and technical diving. While most reports (65%) are related to open water, we also collect information on boating accidents, equipment failures, and medical events.
While we select some reports for publication, we remove any identifying information (names, dates, and locations) from the final version. You can read some of the accident reports at dan.org/safety-prevention/diver-safety/case-summaries/. Some of our most notable cases include an underwater fistfight, a lightning strike during a dive, and a mysterious case of a missing mouthpiece.
Divers know diving should be fun, but it can be fun only if it’s safe. Education is the best prevention, but we cannot learn from what we do not know.
If you or your dive buddy experience or witness a dive incident, please report it to DAN Research at dan.org/safety-prevention/incident-reporting/.
For any questions or more information, reach out to us at .
© Alert Diver – Q3 2024