- Type
- Work
- Equipment
- Circumstances
- Outcome
- Factors
- Lessons
- Sources
Incident Reports
Occupational Diving Incident Reports
Documenting incidents and fatalities so our industry can learn from what happened and take stronger action to prevent similar events.
Definition
What Is an Incident?
An incident is any unplanned event associated with diving work that caused—or could reasonably have caused—injury, illness, equipment damage, environmental harm, operational loss or death.
Incidents include:
- Near misses
- Unsafe conditions or actions
- Equipment and life-support failures
- Loss of breathing gas or communications
- Uncontrolled ascents or descents
- Entrapment, entanglement and differential-pressure events
- Decompression illness and other injuries
- Emergency recoveries and rescues
- Serious injuries and fatalities
A near miss is still an incident. The fact that nobody was injured does not mean the operation was safe. It may simply mean that the conditions did not produce a more serious outcome on that occasion.
An incident includes everything from a warning with no injury to an event resulting in a fatality.
Reviewing the full range of incidents helps identify weaknesses before they cause a serious injury or loss of life.
Purpose
Learning from Past Incidents
This page documents occupational diving incidents and fatalities so that our industry can learn from what happened and take stronger action to prevent similar events.
It is not intended to assign blame or criticize any individual, diving contractor, organization or regulator. Diving incidents are rarely caused by one action alone. They commonly involve a combination of hazards, decisions, worksite conditions and gaps in planning or control.
By examining these events, we can identify recurring concerns involving diving methods, equipment, communication, supervision, site hazards and emergency preparedness.
Every incident provides an opportunity to improve. Our purpose is to honour those who were lost or injured by using the lessons from the past to strengthen planning, manage risk and prevent needless incidents in the future.
Statistics
What Canadian Occupational Diving Fatalities Can Tell Us
Between 1992 and 2026, ODRM has identified 60 fatalities associated with occupational diving work in Canada.
60
Canadian occupational diving fatalities identified by ODRM
54 90%
SCUBA or Hookah
6 10%
Surface-supplied diving equipment
Of these fatalities: 54 fatalities—90% involved SCUBA or Hookah; 6 fatalities—10% involved surface-supplied diving equipment.
Classification
Equipment Classification Explanation
For this study, ODRM classifies SCUBA and Hookah as non-workplace-suitable equipment because these systems were not originally designed and developed as complete occupational diving systems.
Surface-supplied diving is classified as workplace-suitable equipment because it was developed for occupational work and normally provides surface-supplied breathing gas, communications, emergency breathing-gas redundancy and direct support from the surface team.
These statistics do not mean that equipment caused every fatality. They identify the primary life-support system being used and raise important questions about equipment selection, planning, communications, emergency preparedness and worksite control.
The purpose of publishing this history is not to assign blame. It is to learn from past events and help prevent similar losses.
Reports
Incident Reports
Incident reports are being prepared. Individual incident reports will be added as the historical register is developed and information is confirmed.
Disclaimer
Register Disclaimer
These figures are based on ODRM's developing fatality register and may be updated as additional historical information is confirmed.
Each fatality will be discussed individually online in the near future. These discussions will focus on the work being performed, the primary equipment used, the known circumstances and the practical safety lessons that may help protect today's divers.
Have information to share?
Help us improve the record
If you have verified information about an occupational diving incident or fatality that should be included in this register, please contact us. All submissions are reviewed carefully before publication.
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