ADCI Informational Update 2012-02

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Dangerous Encounter with Marine Life

INCIDENT DETAILS:
Recently, a member company experienced an incident involving a diver getting hit in the leg by a Stingray. The saturation diver was working on a project in the Gulf of Mexico, at a depth of 175 fsw (55 meters), with zero visibility on bottom.
The stingray left a 1 inch barb in the thigh of the leg of the diver, who was wearing a thin wetsuit underneath a very thick hot-water suit. (See attached photo)
A Certified Diver Medical Technician, who was also in the saturation system, removed the barb from the diver’s leg, and irrigated the puncture area. As a precaution, the diver was decompressed out of saturation by the company’s contracted diving physician, despite only requiring minor first aid treatment. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Incidents such as this may be one of those unavoidable incidents, like those with manta rays or lion fish. Stingrays can have substantially larger barbs that are capable causing a fatality.
Contractors are cautioned to always factor in encounters with dangerous marine life in the Job Hazard Analysis and have procedures in place to adequately respond to possible encounters.