OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14526941
RESPIRATORY,CYLINDER,SCUBA,COMPRESSED AIR,DIVING,DIVER
Event description
SCUBA DIVER LOST AIR TANK; LATER DIED FROM INJURIES
Investigation abstract
AT ABOUT 1:30 PM ON APRIL 27, 1985, EMPLOYEE #1, A SCUBA DIVER, WAS WORKING IN 1 TO THE SURFACE. A SHORT TIME LATER, THE EMPLOYEE SURFACED IN A STATE OF PANIC. BEFORE 2 OTHER CREW MEMBERS COULD REACH HIM HE SANK TO THE BOTTOM. THE 2 CREW ME MBERS BROUGHT HIM UP FROM THE BOTTOM AND PUT HIM ON THE BOAT. HE WAS NOT BREATHI NG AND HAD NO PULSE. THEY MANAGED TO REVIVE HIM, AND HE WAS ABLE TO BREATHE ON H IS OWN FOR ABOUT A HALF HOUR. WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT 10 MINUTES FROM PORT HE AGAIN STOPPED BREATHING, AND WAS AGAIN REVIVED. HE WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL BY AMBULANCE, WHERE HE DIED ON MAY 3RD. 0 TO 13 FEET OF WATER ABOUT 1500 FEET OFFSHORE AND EAST OF ST. JOHNS ISLAND'S NO RTH END, NEAR VERO BEACH, FLORIDA. A TREASURE HUNTING SALVAGE BOAT, WITH 5 CREW MEMBERS, WAS DIGGING HOLES BY DIVERTING PROPELLER BACK-WASH TOWARDS THE OCEAN BO TTOM, USING A 90 DEGREE ANGLED TUBE. FOUR ANCHORS, TWO AT THE STERN AND TWO AT T HE BOW, KEPT THE BOAT STATIONARY WHILE "BLOWING" HOLES. MOVEMENT OF THE BOAT WIT HIN A GIVEN SALVAGE AREA WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY WINCHING SPECIFIC ANCHOR LINES, SO THE ANCHORS HAD TO BE RELOCATED AT FREQUENT INTERVALS. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS MOVING AN ANCHOR WEIGHING ABOUT 15 POUNDS WHEN, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, HIS AIR TANK FLOATED
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 31 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 9
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.