American Caving Accidents

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American Caving Accidents

Postby mgmills » Mar 17, 2008 2:10 pm

Just arrived inside my March NSS News. :kewl:

Rather sparse edition. I guess that is good, but does it mean there were only a few accidents or that fewer accidents were reported.

BTW, NZCaver (a.k.a. Jansen) are those your photos on the ACA cover? I don't know your last name but Jansen isn't a real common first name.
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Re: American Caving Accidents

Postby NZcaver » Mar 17, 2008 2:44 pm

mgmills wrote:Just arrived inside my March NSS News. :kewl:

Rather sparse edition. I guess that is good, but does it mean there were only a few accidents or that fewer accidents were reported.

BTW, NZCaver (a.k.a. Jansen) are those your photos on the ACA cover? I don't know your last name but Jansen isn't a real common first name.

Guilty as charged. :oops:

If you look closely you'll see the "patient" in the cover photo is Bill Putnam, the former editor of the ACA. :big grin:

I don't consider this ACA to be ovely sparse, but it is slimmer than past issues and the analysis of each incident is somewhat brief. I assume the NSS saves on postage by bundling it with the News, and I wonder if there are size constraints associated with that? As for incident statistics, take a look at page 2. This 2006 issue lists more incidents than the previous 2 years, but much less than the average number reported over the past 20 years. I don't think we'll ever know just how many incidents there are in the US. I'd wager there's at least a few go unreported each year.
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Re: American Caving Accidents

Postby Ralph E. Powers » Mar 17, 2008 4:04 pm

I agree that the thinness of the ACA is misleading in the numbers for those not realizing that it's the bulk of incidents reported/discovered by the editors. Definitely more need to be submitted.
Still the quality of the reports is the same... very good and educational where more detail is given. Good things to learn on what NOT to do while caving.
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Re: American Caving Accidents

Postby wyandottecaver » Mar 18, 2008 8:29 pm

All the proof you need for the SWAGO revolution is on the cover, 3 of 4 packs pictured are SWAGO's :)
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)
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Re: American Caving Accidents

Postby JackW » Apr 3, 2008 5:53 pm

NZcaver wrote:I'd wager there's at least a few go unreported each year.


I'd not take you up on that bet. I'd go so far as to say that what gets published is 1/4 of the accidents and incidents that involve cavers. Might be the same for non-caver spelunker types. I caveat this guess with an "I'm no expert on the topic" but I've been privy to some incidents in my 12 years as a caver that were certainly worthy of being reported by comparison of what does get reported/published in ACA.

Oh, I was surprised that the "in bathroom during armed robbery of an Arby's on way to cave" was not included in the recent ACA. :cavingrocks:

At on that, I'll shut-up before I get myself in trouble.
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