Capital Commentary
by Chris Needels, USPA Executive Director

When we think of self-regulation, the Basic Safety Requirements come to mind. These are the minimum standards that we and the FAA recognize as the hard deck of safety. But there is another very important component of self-regulation that receives little attention-accident reporting.

There are some who believe that we should not track accident data, because it makes skydiving look dangerous. Well, let's face it-skydiving is dangerous, at least when we don't pay attention to the misfortunes of others. Then there is the liability issue. If we have reports, we have personal injury attorneys with court orders.

However, there are far more reasons to collect accident data than to suppress them. First and foremost, we all need to know what is causing people to get hurt so that we can modify the BSRs, enhance our training programs, educate our fellow skydivers and improve the equipment we use. And for those living on the edge, we can't always stop skydivers from doing dumb things, but at least we can let the errant know the consequences based upon real field data. Sobering statistics can alter behavior.

There is also an implied public responsibility of USPA to collect, analyze and disseminate accident-related data. When the FAA initially proposed the rewrite to FAR Part 105 in 1999, it required reports to the federal government for even relatively minor accidents. Recognizing that USPA, not the FAA, had the skydiving technical wherewithal to translate accident data into accident prevention, USPA opposed that proposal. We successfully argued that the FAA should depend upon USPA to collect accident information and use it to improve skydiving safety. USPA stepped up to the plate on behalf of its members and their safety, knowing that if USPA failed, the result would be oppressive regulation and legislation that could deprive us of the very freedoms we seek. There would also be more litigation, not less.

So, it's fairly clear that reporting accidents to USPA is both necessary and desirable. But here's the disconnect. Last year, USPA members on their annual membership renewal forms indicated that collectively there were 1,275 injuries that required treatment at a medical facility. But instructors, Safety & Training Advisors and drop zones submitted only 58 non-fatal incident reports using USPA's formal reporting system. And even the usually reliable fatality reporting system didn't do well, either, with only 26 of the 33 fatalities reported on the USPA fatality report form and three others in usable but non-standard formats. The rest came from word of mouth, newsgroups or the media-often later to be determined inaccurate or at least misleading.

It appears that the system is not working as it did years ago, so USPA must find a better way. The challenge, then, is to design a way to get the data we need to enhance safety, while protecting the privacy of our members and avoiding frivolous lawsuits. And we can do it. We must. In fact, USPA will soon have new forms and new procedures to enhance reporting.

But new forms and procedures will work only if those entrusted to report step forward and get it done. If S&TAs, instructors and drop zone operators take just a few minutes to file a report on those occasions when a skydiver takes that ride to the local hospital for a little repair work, field reporting statistics will more closely match the number of accidents reported by each of us every year on our renewal forms. And if we have that kind of reporting, think how much more we will know about why we are getting hurt and what we can do to prevent recurrence.

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