News
BSAC 2021 Incident Report released

The British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) has released the latest annual Diving Incident Report. As part of its role as National Governing Body, BSAC reports on diving incidents in the UK, from all diver training agencies. Compiled by BSAC Incident Advisor, Jim Watson and Data analyst, Ben Peddie, the report has been released annually for almost 60 years.
The Incident Report and its data analysis aim to promote diver safety as well as understand any trends that can support all the diving agencies in their diver training programmes and safety advice. It contains details of UK diving incidents occurring to divers from all agencies and backgrounds, plus incidents occurring worldwide involving BSAC members. The data is gathered from incident report forms, through partners agencies including the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, the RNLI, MOD, RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and other diving organisations.
The collection of incident information is central to understanding trends in diving safety. The report analyses the background to the incidents, and over many years BSAC and other UK training agencies have updated their training programmes and safety guidance based on the report.
Now available to download online at bsac.com/incidentreport, the 2021 Diving Incident Report has recorded a total of 235 incidents, which includes 17 that occurred overseas.
New webinar for diving industry professionals
BSAC will present its findings to diving industry professionals by webinar on Monday 28 November 2022 at 2pm. Instructors and other professionals from dive organisations and other agencies are all invited on a first-come, first served basis.
Anyone wishing to attend can register using this form, and links to join the webinar will be sent out the morning before. A recording of the webinar will be available afterwards.
Headlines from the 2021 Report
- Diving largely returned to pre-pandemic levels
- Increase in reported incidents
- 235 incidents reported in calendar year 2021
- 16 diver fatalities in 15 incidents
- Slight rise in incidents related to equipment failure
- RNLI called out 45 times; helicopters called out 26 times
Some of the conclusions from the report were…
From the number of incidents reported we can surmise that, although there was a slow start, diving activity has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. As this was a period of inactivity, there is some evidence that some equipment failures may have been affected by the extended period of lay-off due to the pandemic. This may be why few incidents were reported in the first three months of the year, although it picked up rapidly from April onwards.
Decompression Illness (DCI) was the most reported category of incident, followed by surface/boat incidents and injuries.
Separation and solo diving continue to feature prominently in the factors associated with incidents resulting in a fatality.
BSAC Incident Advisor Jim Watson said:
“As with previous Incident Reports published over many years, some incidents reported in 2021 could possibly have been avoided had those involved followed a few basic principles of safe diving practice. In addition, many of the unavoidable incidents are prevented from escalating into something more serious by the prompt utilisation of rescue skills and the rapid support of the rescue services. BSAC publishes online advice on ‘Safe Diving‘ summarising all the key elements of safe diving practice, and we urge all divers to ensure equipment is maintained properly and to evaluate their own personal fitness levels. Incident analysis shows that through continuous training, skills practice and careful dive planning divers are able to greatly reduce their chances of suffering an incident.”
Safe diving guidance
Safety is at the core of BSAC’s training programme and the organisation publishes online advice the Safe Diving guide – bsac.com/safediving – which is based on many decades of incident analysis. Review of the 2021 incidents seems to show that some could have been avoided, and/or the severity reduced, if Safe Diving advice had been followed.
Help keep diving safe
If you have been involved in or witnessed an incident, please report it – in confidence – and help BSAC to continue to shape a safe future for diving. Whether you are a BSAC diver or dive with another agency, a recreational or technical diver or if the incident happened in the UK or overseas, we want to hear about it.
You can report incidents confidentially at any time online at bsac.com/incidentreporting
News
Jane Morgan Joins Scubaverse’s Underwater Photography Team

Scubaverse is proud to announce that renowned underwater photographer Jane Morgan is the first to join our newly launched underwater photography team, alongside team lead Saeed Rashid.
With a career spanning over two decades, Jane brings a wealth of experience, creativity, and passion for the ocean. After learning to dive in 1991, Jane’s early work in marine conservation and scuba instruction in the Philippines and Borneo laid the foundation for what would become a distinguished career in underwater photojournalism.
A chance encounter with a film camera in Egypt in 2001 sparked a lifelong passion for underwater photography. Since then, Jane’s captivating imagery has been featured in top publications around the world, from major magazines and newspapers to books and exhibitions. She has worked with the BBC, judged prestigious competitions, and earned accolades including the Plongeur d’Or at the Festival Mondial de l’Image Sous-Marine.
Now based in Cornwall, Jane dives the UK coast year-round, championing its often-overlooked marine biodiversity. She is also a proud ambassador for DYNAMICNORD and Fathoms Free, lending her voice and lens to ocean conservation efforts.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Scubaverse underwater photography team,” says Jane. “It’s an exciting opportunity to share stories from beneath the surface and connect more people with the incredible beauty—and fragility—of our oceans.”
Scubaverse founder Dave Alexander adds, “Jane is one of my absolute favourite underwater photographers, and having her on board is a huge moment for us. Her talent, passion, and dedication to marine storytelling make her an ideal fit for the team.”
We’re just getting started… come back tomorrow to meet the next member of our underwater photography dream team!
Marine Life & Conservation
Double Bubble for the Shark Trust

This week only – your donation to the Shark Trust will be doubled – at no extra cost to you!
The Shark Trust are raising vital funds for their Community Engagement Programme: empowering people to learn about sharks and rays, assisting the scientific community take action for elasmobranchs, and bring communities together to become ambassadors for change.
Every £1 you give = £2 for shark conservation. A donation of £10 becomes £20, £50 becomes £100! Help us reach our target of £10,000, if successful, this will be doubled to £20,000 by the Big Give.
Every donation makes DOUBLE the impact!
Monty Halls is backing this week of fundraising “Cousteau called sharks the “splendid savage of the sea”, and even through the more benign lens of modern shark interactions it remains a good description. The reefs I dived thirty years ago teemed with sharks, the perfect result of 450 million years of evolution. Today those same reefs are silent, the blue water empty of those elegant shadows. But hope remains that if one generation has created such devastation, so the next can reverse the damage that has been done. The Shark Trust are at the forefront of that fight.“
To find out more about the work of the Shark Trust visit their website here.
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