Incident Insights

Learning from your own mistakes and misfortunes is crucial, but don’t miss the opportunity to learn from others’.

DAN has maintained a diving incident database since 1989. Originally limited to scuba diving incidents, it now includes open-circuit scuba, breath-hold and rebreather incidents. We collect, analyze, anonymize and publish this data in the DAN Annual Diving Reports and in these insights for the benefit of the diving community. Often featuring expert commentary, these summaries help divers of all experience levels improve their risk management skills and identify safe diving practices. Scroll down to browse the case summaries, or use the search field to the right.

To report an incident, click here. DAN relies on divers to voluntarily report cases and near misses. No individual will be identified in any case reports published or presented orally. We appreciate every diver’s time and effort in telling their stories and sharing their insights.

Diver Loses Distance Vision After Innocuous Dive

A young diver develops temporary nearsightedness (myopia) after repetitive, shallow, no-decompression air dives.

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Unrecognized Ear Barotrauma

Problems with pressure equalization in the middle ear are very common in diving and may result in barotrauma, which is the most common diving injury.

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Compressed Gas Tears Skin, Penetrates Body

This is a very rare injury, but diligence and forethought will likely reduce the occurrence. Do not underestimate the energy released with the rapid expansion of compressed gas.

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Sea Lion Attacks a Scuba Diver

With any injury in the marine environment that penetrates the skin, medical evaluation and treatment are essential. Documentation indicates that seal bites in particular have a very high probability of infection.

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Rash and Weakness Occur After Dive and Lunch: Allergy, DCS or Both?

A diver develops a postdive skin rash and weakness 30 minutes after eating a lobster sandwich. He was treated successfully, but the symptoms reoccurred with diving.

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Diver Loses Five Fillings on One Dive

This painful incident described by the diver is an example of barodontalgia, which is defined as pain or injury affecting teeth due to changes in pressure gradients.

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Diver Experiences Rash, Coughing, Unconsciousness After Hot Shower

This diver’s symptoms are consistent with skin manifestations of decompression sickness (DCS). With the additional coughing (the chokes) and an episode of loss of consciousness, it is very likely that a neurological component was present.

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Fisherman Develops Spinal DCS After In-Water Recompression

To help alleviate pain and symptoms, a diver was treated via in-water recompression. However, the pain did not subside and later manifested as spinal decompression sickness.

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Out-of-Shape Diver Dies During Surface Swim

There were plenty of warning signs for this diver. He probably had difficulty climbing a few steps of stairs in everyday life, and that is sufficient indication of poor physical fitness.

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Diver’s Leg Paralysis Spontaneously Resolves

Considering the reportedly moderate exposure and the absence of provocative factors like breath-holding or rapid ascent, a paradoxical embolism through a patent foramen ovale (PFO) could have been a contributing actor.

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