Just read through the RB_Fatal_Accident_Database …makes for sad but interesting reading.

One always has to wonder as to why someone would compile such a specific list? Is this to promote safety or to promote themselves? Or to show the world how wonderful company A is and how bad the rest are…

The stats were compiled from 1949 – 2010 and lists RB deaths with varying (albeit debatable) “reasons” for the deaths. Interesting was that from 1949 to 1999 (50 years) there were only 29 deaths on RB (14 in 98/99 alone!) and then it accelerates …from 2000 -2005 85 people lost their lives on RB – 34 in 2005 alone! The worst year for RB deaths…from 2006 till 2010 it seems to average at around 22 per year – with 2011 at 6 deaths, so far it seems like a good year…

 

Unfortunately lists like these can be made to tell people what they want to tell them, obviously this many deaths should be a cause for concern to manufacturers and Instructors alike and should be a serious warning to ALL RB divers out there. Rebreathers are inherently much more dangerous than open circuit – this is why the training is more extreme, more expensive and takes much more time.

I know for a fact that there were absolutely NO DEATHS on Open circuit diving prior to 1948…since then it has picked up quite considerably (between a 100 -150 per year..) and wish someone would take the time and effort to compile such a comprehensive list of OC deaths as someone did with the RB list…or maybe there is no financial gain to do this..?

 

Motor vehicle accidents have sharply increased since the advent of the motor car, prior to that there were virtually no recorded deaths…even plane crashes follow a similar trend - maybe everyone that has lost a loved in a plane crash should sue the descendants of Dear Orville and Wilbur…

RB deaths HAS increased – so has the use of Rebreathers…and as with anything new there will always be the ones to try and do it quicker and faster, and there will also be the Gurus that die doing what they love…after all both the 19 year old on the way back from a party AND Ayrton Senna died in car accidents…