Scuba Accidents

From Jacksonville all the way to Miami and Key West, Florida residents and tourists can enjoy recreational scuba diving year round. According to the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association, the source of attraction resides in Florida’s natural reefs, and artificial reefs alike. It is estimated that “there are more than 4,200 chartered dive trips taken to the artificial reef/aircraft carrier Oriskany off of Pensacola Florida annually.”

Behind California, Florida has the most newly certified scuba divers each year. Since 2005, there have been more than 150,000 newly certified divers, which represents more than 14,000 each and every year.

While the scuba diving industry is relatively well-regulated, accidents do occur by the very potentially hazardous and dangerous nature of the activity itself. The equipment utilized to dive is not without risk, let alone the use of said equipment. Then, even if the equipment is inspected and used properly, the outside world does increase the chance for an incident as well.

There are multiple known risks associated with scuba diving. They include scuba diving equipment failure, lack of scuba diving training, the negligence of a “dive buddy”, deteriorating water conditions, “out of air” emergencies, or negligent boat operation resulting in the running over of a scuba diver.

The scuba diving industry is quite prominent in Florida. Most diving businesses sell packages that allow individuals to become open water certified within 2 to 3 days depending on the number of dives patrons decide to purchase. It does occur that something my go wrong, and individuals sustain catastrophic injuries.

Being located in Miami and Key West for the greater part of the last 40 years, Leesfield & Partners has taken on the water-related industry many times before. If you or a loved one were involved in an scuba diving or swimming incident and sustained serious injuries, contact us immediately by calling our office at 305-854-4900.