Investigation of diving accidents

Investigation of diving accidents includes investigations into the causes of reportable incidents in professional diving and recreational diving accidents, usually when there is a fatality or litigation for gross negligence.^[1]

An investigation of some kind usually follows a fatal diving accident, or one in which litigation is expected. There may be several investigations with different agendas. If police are involved, they generally look for evidence of a crime. In the U.S., the United States Coast Guard will usually investigate if there is a death when diving from a vessel in coastal waters. Health and safety administration officials may investigate when the diver was injured or killed at work. When a death occurs during an organised recreational activity, the certification agency's insurers will usually send an investigator to look into possible liability issues. The investigation may occur almost immediately to some considerable time after the event. In most cases the body will have been recovered and resuscitation attempted, and in this process equipment is usually removed and may be damaged or lost, or the evidence compromised by handling. Witnesses may have dispersed, and equipment is often mishandled by the investigating authorities if they are unfamiliar with the equipment and store it improperly, which can destroy evidence and compromise findings.^[2]

Recreational diving accidents are usually relatively uncomplicated, but accidents involving an extended range environment or specialised equipment may require expertise beyond the experience of any one investigator.^[2] This is a particular issue when rebreather equipment is involved.^[3] Investigators who are not familiar with complex equipment may not know enough about the equipment to understand that they do not know enough.

For every incident in which someone is injured of killed, it has been estimated that a relatively large number of "near miss" incidents occur, which the diver manages well enough to avoid harm. Ideally these will be recorded, analysed for cause, reported, and the results made public, so that similar incidents can be avoided in the future.^[4]