BSAC To Launch New Dive Survey

From the BSAC website:

The BSAC, in conjunction with other agencies, is to conduct a major survey of UK diving to build an accurate picture of the nature of sports diving in this country.

Brian Cumming, BSAC Safety and Incidents Advisor, reports:

"Each year the BSAC publishes a report on diving incidents (see www.bsac.org/page/546/incidents-information.htm) but we don’t have an accurate picture of the type of diving taking place to put these reports into their correct perspective. For example, in recent years, 13% of diving fatalities in the UK have involved solo divers. Now it is very probable that this is a disproportionate number compared to the number of solo dives that take place, but we just don’t know for sure. Similarly, in the 2006 incident year, 19% of the fatalities were divers using rebreathers; is this high or low in comparison to the amount of rebreather diving taking place? We simply don’t know. A major purpose of the survey is to allow us to put these and other statistics into their correct perspective.

The survey will have two main elements. The first will be a very broad, site based survey, which will provide an overview of the demographics, affiliation and experience of UK divers. The second will be club/branch based and will provide much more detailed information on dive detail – depths, gasses, decompression, equipment, type of dive etc.

The purpose of this article is to alert divers to this survey, to explain its purpose and to seek your support.

The site based survey will take place in June and BSAC coaches and other helpers will be in attendance, for one day, at many key dive sites around the country, with their clip boards. They will be asking for just a few minutes of your time to answer a few simple questions about you and your diving history. No information will be asked that could identify any individual and, as with our incident reporting scheme, we will take great care to respect individuals’ privacy. If you are approached by one of our researchers please support the programme.

The second element, the branch survey, is currently in the planning stage and information on this will be circulated later. We will, however, be looking for branches and clubs, of all affiliations, who would be prepared to fill out a spreadsheet detailing the dives that they have conducted and send us that information on a quarterly basis.

If your club would be prepared to support this part of the survey please let us know via safety@bsac.com

We are also planning other supporting activities such as a web-based reporting facility and data gathering through commercial sports diving facilities (boats and sites).

As stated earlier the purpose is to provide a better understanding of the nature of UK diving and thus to strengthen our ability to provide sound, evidence based advice to UK divers on diving practice and diving safety – please support this initiative either by giving a little time if approached by a researcher or through your branch or club."

For more information on the survey, please contact safety@bsac.com