Found a crazy stat about decompression sickness rates I had to share

I was reading through some CDC diving accident reports last week and found that nearly 60 percent of commercial diving incidents happen in less than 50 feet of water. That really surprised me because I always figured deep dives were where the real danger was. The report said most of those shallow water cases came from people working on bridge inspections or pier repairs near ports. I think part of it is that guys get complacent when the bottom is right there. Has anyone else noticed that shallow jobs actually feel riskier than deeper ones?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles7981mo ago

Were they cutting corners on bottom time because the water was shallow or just ignoring the ascent rates entirely?

benwilliams16d ago

That matches what I saw on a bridge job a few years back. We were only at 40 feet, but the tide was ripping and silt was everywhere. The supervisor kept pushing us to finish the weld inspection faster, so a couple guys started skipping their safety stops. I just took my time and did the full stop anyway, got some dirty looks for it. The guy who rushed it ended up with the bends that night, we all heard about it at the motel.