About a dozen years ago I helped the Ontario Underwater Council prepare
its annual accident report to its membership.  Since then I have been
collecting data around the world about dive fatalities and accidents.
I wanted to compare what was happening outside of Canada with what is
happening in Ontario.  Was the ratio of divers, to accidents to number
of dives, higher or lower than other states/provinces/countries? I was
going to (or still might) help the Ontario Underwater Council with a
review of the last 10 years so I continue to collect data. Most of the
data comes from media searches through newspapers, radio reports and tv
newscasts, and through visiting club websites, newsgroups and blogs.
Some are reports from friends and colleagues because of personal
information. After ten years I realise that it is an inexact way of
collecting data - I say that for a variety of reasons.  A decade ago
there was very little access to media reports, now it is easy. So the
number of files I harvest now compared to 1996 is substantially higher.
At the same time some dive destinations and dive websites have made an
effort to under publicize accidents -- usually you only see reference
to dive fatalities when it is a resident of a G8 country dying diving
rather than a local. As well the number of divers passing the 50 year
mark is greatly increasing and people are dying underwater - not
because of scuba - but for health reasons.  I don't know how to handle
the number of rebreather deaths -- it appears to me the fatality rate
is dropping as the technology improves.  So I guess the data I have
collected  is not that useful and won't help me with my project (that I
might not do).  But, for the record,  I recorded 222 dive fatality or
serious accident incidents in 2005.  Some of the dive fatalities
involved multiple deaths and a several of the fatalities were
industrial or military related. In comparision I noted 142 incidents in
2004.  If my own work load ever eases up I will analysis the data more
completely and report it here, but, that ain't going to happen for
awhile.
Stephen Weir. Toronto.