I keep seeing people say saturation diving is the hardest thing we do, but the numbers surprise me every time

I was reading through some injury reports from the HSE and OSHA databases last week, and I found out that inshore commercial diving actually has a higher rate of serious accidents than offshore work. We're talking about 7.2 incidents per 100 full time divers versus 4.8 for saturation guys from 2019 to 2022. I always thought the deep stuff was way more dangerous, but the stats show a different picture. Most of the inshore injuries were from deck equipment and water movement, not diving itself. Does anyone else focus more on topside safety than underwater risks now?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea_bell10d ago

Those inshore stats are skewed by new guys making rookie mistakes on deck, not the actual diving risk.

sanchez.julia10d ago

Oh man, don't remind me of rookie mistakes. I still cringe thinking about my first week trying to tie off a buoy line - I basically gift-wrapped the rope around my own ankle and then tripped into a pile of bait buckets. The actual dive part was the easy part compared to looking like a total goof on deck in front of everyone.

fionamurphy10d ago

Three years ago a study came out showing 80% of deck accidents happen within the first six months on the job, so the stats are legit tracking the steep learning curve. Saying the numbers are "skewed" ignores that those new guys are still doing the same diving work as the old timers, they just haven't figured out the boat part yet. How can you separate the deck risk from the dive risk when you have to manage both to get in the water safely?