It was with some shock I learnt of yet another death in our waters last Friday. It was the tenth this year and the eighth involving swimming, snorkeling or diving. Most have involved tourists who were over the age of 50.

Is there anything Cayman’s diving industry can do to help prevent this?

In a study executed by the International Life Saving Federation (go to: http://www.ilsf.org/drowning-prevention/library/factors-associated-opencircuit-recreational-diving-fatalities) in 2007 they collected data from 1992-2003 concerning 965 recreational scuba diving deaths involving open-circuit scuba. They found:

“Drowning, arterial gas embolism (AGE), and cardiac injury were the three most common disabling injuries, associated with 87% of the 862 deaths for which a disabling injury could be assigned. Disabling injuries ascribed to trauma, decompression sickness, loss of consciousness, or inappropriate gases were rare. Drowning was associated predominantly with entrapment (Odds Ratio, OR≥30) and insufficient gas (OR=16). Insufficient gas and emergency ascent (OR≥30) were the principal factors associated with injuries ascribed to AGE. For cardiac injury, external adverse events were rarely identified, and the principal associations were a history of cardiovascular disease (OR≥30) and increasing age (OR=2 per 10 years of age). While diving deaths will never be completely eliminated, emphasis on avoiding and managing factors associated with the common disabling injuries – drowning, AGE, and cardiac injury – offers a reasonable opportunity to reduce their occurrence.

“The majority of drownings were found to be associated with evidence of an incapacitating event that may have rendered the decedent incapable of self-rescue.”

The Royal Life Saving Society – Australia in their National Drowning Report 2012 said that drowning deaths in the 55+ Years bracket 43% of the drowning deaths in their statistics were in waterways of which 74% were male. They made these recommendations:

Never undertake aquatic activity alone

Get a medical check before participating in aquatic activity

Enrol in a Grey Medallion* course to improve your skills

* The Grey Medallion program is an Australian water safety and lifesaving skills initiative for older adults. It aims to encourage a healthy, independent and active lifestyle through the development of essential skills in order to participate in aquatic recreation activities safely.

This practical program provides older adults with personal survival techniques, improved swimming skills, skills to deal with emergency situations and a thorough understanding of water safety knowledge in order to reduce the likelihood of drowning.

Unfortunately, older Australians (those aged 55 and over) make up a large proportion of the drowning statistics in Australia and as the population is ageing this continues to increase. According to the Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report for 2012, there were 97 drowning deaths of people aged 55 years and over which accounted for 34% of all drowning deaths. Open water environments particularly rivers, creeks and streams are a concern to this life stage and with the diversity of activities they are participating in, drowning prevention becomes a challenge.

The National Association of Rescue Divers (NARD) – USA – also concluded “the elderly also experience high drowning rates. Mortality is 3 to 4 times greater for males than females.

The American Academy of Family Physicians in a Divers Alert Network (DAN) report in 2001 said there were only an average of 90 scuba deaths per year since 1980!

This would seem that scuba diving is safe compared to the death ratio with the number of divers and dives made each year.

However what it does prove is that age is a factor and perhaps our diving industry should now take a very hard look at this. This Grey Medallion Course might be an area where they could take some pointers from and also insist that anyone over the age of 50 must produce a current medical certification they are fit to dive.