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DOCUMENT RESUME RC 020 929 ED 404 089 Watters, Ron AUTHOR Whitewater River Accident Analysis. TITLE PUB DATE 96 10p.; In: Proceedings of the 1995 International NOTE Conference on Outdoor Recreation and Education; see RC 020 917. Speeches/Conference Descriptive (141) Reports PUB TYPE Papers (150) MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Accident Prevention; *Accidents; *Adventure DESCRIPTORS Education; Aquatic Sports; Case Studies; *Decision Making; Safety *Case Method (Teaching Technique); Kayaking; Outdoor IDENTIFIERS Leadership; Outdoor Recreation; *Whitewater Rafting ABSTRACT Critical decision making on a whitewater trip goes beyond simply having knowledge of safety practices. Rather, prudent decisions are arrived at through a complex interplay of diverse factors. The question is: how can outdoor educators prepare themselves and their staff to make the "right" decision when faced with a potentially dangerous situation? Experience is always the best teacher, but short of being involved or being on hand during actual river accidents, the next best way to prepare is through the study of river accidents. Case studies vividly describe what can go wrong when basic river safety procedures are violated, and also show that river accidents happen even when no basic safety procedures are violated. The latter type of incident reminds us that rules or lists of safety practices are not always reliable and that we must do our own thinking. River accident reports have been published in books, journals, and newsletters. A sample case study of a kayaking fatality is presented and analyzed, and 23 whitewater accidents that occurred in 1995 are listed. These accidents indicate a continuing trend: both commercial and noncommercial programs are running more difficult rivers while the physical ability, experience, and fitness of rafting clients have been declining. (Author/SV) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made 7.t from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS ,C:1 this document has been reproduced as WEITEWATER RIVER ACCIDENT ANALYSIS received from the person or organization MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stateo in this docu- RON WATTERS ' ment do not necessarily represent official By OERI position or policy. Ron Natters TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Director INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." Idaho State University Outdoor Program Box 8118 Pocatello, Idaho 83209 ABSTRACT beyond simply having Critical decision making on a whitewater trip goes Rather, prudent decisions are arrived at knowledge of safety practices. The question of factors. through a complex interplay of a diverse variety and our staff to how can we as outdoor educators prepare ourselves is: potentially dangerous make the "right" decision when faced with a being Experience is always the best teacher, but short of situation? accidents, the next best way involved or being on-hand during actual river This paper river accidents. of preparing ourselves is through the study of accident case studies and looks at the sources of information on whitewater Additionally, the tool. how accident information can be used as a teaching is examined in 1995 whitewater season is reviewed and one case study detail. BASIS OF SAFE TRIPS in the field of outdoor Over the past few years, there has been a movement activity safety education to develop lists of commonly accepted outdoor been in the The Association of Experiential Education has practices. practices in forefront of this effort, publishing a volume of common If you are in running. different outdoor activity areas, including river good starting charge of a river trip program, such material can serve as a but it should only point from which to develop a safe water-based program, be a one part of your overall safety strategy. running safe river trips is good No matter how it is viewed, the key to If you have trip leaders and volunteers All else is secondary. people. and who have developed good who have on-the-water training and experience, basis of a safety 'decision making skills, then you have most important trip leaders There's no substitute for logging river miles, and program. their free time and need to be the kind of'people who enjoy going out on It is only through actual river running rivers on a regular basis. rivers, their moods and hazards, experience that people really learn about the intricacies of making the complexities of working with groups and decisions. 6,0 DECISION MAKING FACTORS A great variety of factors Decision making on river trips is never easy. To understand the the water. enter into nearly any decision made on C:1) 2 BEST COPY AVAIIABLE 159 .%) N144 identify contributory factors and decision making process, it is helpful to Some initial work in this another. understand their relationship to one University and Rick Curtis (1995) of Princeton area has been by Alan Hale Accidents They have proposed the "Dynamics of Outdoor Action Program. accidents is dependent upon two general Model" in which the potential for Hale and Curtis Environmental Hazards and Human Factor Hazards. hazards: accidents increases by the hypothesize that the overall potential for number of human factors: number of environmental factors times the Human Hazards Accident Potential = Environmental Hazards x available on the Internet (address: In a paper authored by Curtis and of http://www.princeton.edu/curtis/rivplan.html), he gives some examples adverse weather, remote location, undercut rocks, environmental hazards: fear, examples of human factors: strainers, holes, cold temperatures; and instructions, careless attitude, little or low skill level, resistance to The lists go on and on. exhaustion, etc. no awareness of hazards, is useful in enlisting the help Hale and Curtis point out that the formula "It is essential to teach the Dynamics of of all members of the party: that all participants Accidents Formula at the very beginning of trips so is directly related to reducing the are aware of how their behavior Participants can then take some responsibility possibility of accidents. with Having participants on river trips fully involved of their safety." making safe river trips. minimizing hazards is a powerful ingredient in the party are watching out for Trips are safer by far when all members of one another. RIVER ACCIDENT CASE STUDIES accidents occurs at the decision The most important aspect of preventing those with more making stage when less experienced boaters depend on trip leaders to make good How do we prepare our volunteers and experience. there is also Experience, of course, is the best teacher, but decisions? used in concert with river another valuable learning tool that can be the study of river accidents. experience: teaching aid is sobering, eye The use of river accident case studies as a Case studies vividly describe what can go wrong opening and enlightening. We all need an occasional violated. when basic river safety procedures are Often when outdoor programming. visit to the other, frightful side of and our staffs can be lolled trips are running smoothly year after year, we occasional review of someone else's into a false sense of security, and an misfortune can shake us to our senses again. decisions isn't always cut and dry.. Case studies also show that making in which no basic safety procedure has Each year there are river accidents that rules or lists of From such accidents, we are reminded been violated. always be relied upon, and that we must and common safety practices can't have to do our own thinking. involved in compiling information on river Of all the people who have been His name is Charles Walbridge, and for accidents one person stands out. driving force behind the collection and nearly twenty years he has been the Walbridge who river accidents. dissemination of information and data on headed the whitewater boating supply company, has owns Wildwater Designs, a American Canoe Association and serves as the Safety Task Force under the Safety Chairman. American Whitewater Affiliation's 3 160 without Walbridge has edited or co-edited several publications which are, Those exception, the best sources of whitewater accident information. include: The Best of the River Safety Task Force Newsletter (Compilation of accidents from 1976 to 1982) River Safety Report 1986-1988 River Safety Report 1982-1985 All three of the reports were published by the American Canoe Association. Other information on accidents can be found on an occasional basis in the Recently, it has also published American Whitewater Affiliation Journal. Whitewater yearly summaries of river accidents and fatalities. publications oriented to large consumer markets, such as Paddler and Canoe & Kayak, rarely run case study articles and are less useful as source of accident information. The sport of river running is not the only part of the outdoor recreation world that has made some type of systematic attempt to compile accident The venerable American Alpine Club has information, nor is it the first. been compiling rock climbing and mountaineering accident data for many years in its yearly publication Accidents in North American Mountaineering. Avalanche researchers have also assembling information on avalanche accidents in a series of publications known as Snowy Torrents. A SAMPLE CASE STUDY Those accounts in which the accident ie Case studies vary in usefulness. The following is carefully detailed by actual eye witnesses are the beet. an example of one such case study from River Safety Task Force Newsletter Since this was a club excursion, it was structured (Walbridge, 1983). similar to many trips which are run by non-profit programs and has value as for leaders and program directors: The annual Feather River Boat-in for 1986 was the scene of a drowning Highway construction due to flooding kept all but a on April 20th. group from the Sierra Nevada Whitewater Club from attending. On Sunday, April 20th, Al McManus lost his life while on the Sloat to This Nelson Point section of the Middle Fork of the Feather River. The day was warm Class II section was running approximately 700 cfs. Al seemed to be picking up and the water temperature in the mid-50s. the basics again in moving water, as he had not kayaked since the Although he appeared to be doing quite well, he had expressed fall. a certain apprehension about the river to another in the group. About one and one-half miles into the trip, near the Carmack Mine area, we came to a rapid that was more challenging than the rest. I pulled the group into a large eddy that was situated above and to The rapid could be clearly viewed from the eddy. side of the rapid. I warned the The group was offered the option to walk the rapid. group that anyone running the rapid must take the river left chute to avoid a large rock in the center onto which most the flow was going. The right side was blocked by a series of rocks that an expert could maneuver through but that novice or intermediate might have trouble The first four boaters ran the left slot. Two boaters with. He shot out into the center. Matt, a beginner, was next. portaged. the left, he hit a rock and swam. As Matt struggled to maneuver to As we finished of the rapid. Gary and I rescued him at the bottom He shot enter the rapid. the rescue, I looked upstream to see Al He made no attempt into the center and floated sideways downstream. upstream As he hit the rock sideways, he rolled to avoid the rock. and disappeared from sight. Matt and I six carabiners. I grabbed two through ropes and at least Two locals who sign of the boat. ran up the shore but could see no for an ambulance and had been watching us run the rapids were sent the rock. I We threw my throw rope across the top of the Sheriff. into the eddy below used the rope to get near the rock and then swam made before The rock was very slippery and several attempts were it. the submerged boat's grab loop. I managed to a clip a carabiner to pull the boat free. CPR was It took all eight paddlers to eventually I turned A line was set up across the river. begun immediately. We placed Al on the two kayaks and two paddles into a raft. him over to the other makeshift and continued CPR while we ferried At accident. The ambulance arrived within 40 minutes of the shore . dead. a Quincy hospital Al was pronounced Although the accident. ANALYSIS: I learned several things form this really only have three ninutes to rescue took 7 to 10 minutes, you The kayak, a Taurus, was not a rescue anybody trapped underwater. the kayak on top of fault, as Al was trapped against the bottom with In the future, beginners will not be The boat did not bend. him. certain rapids on my given the option of whether to portage or run tripe. this session entered into a At the Cornell Conference, the group attending Dennis Johnson from the discussion about the Feather River accident. important that trip University of California at Davis said that it is Making prudent decisions on river trips take leaders know the river well. river and its rapids at various in account a good working knowledge of the uncertain from Johnson also pointed out that although, it is water levels. rivers harbor particularly the accident description, some locations on history of entrapment. insidious boulders and undercut rocks that have a and use extra caution at such A river party needs to be aware of such areas locations. inform boaters of the Lately there has been a very welcome attempt to After two kayaker fatalities on Initiation locations of dangerous rocks. coalition of boaters and river Rapid on the Upper Gauley River, an informal posted it in a variety of organizations published a "Safety Bulletin" and published A copy of the bulletin which was access points near the river. This is a valuable 1995). in the AWA journal is reproduced here (Tanger, land management agencies service to paddlers, and boating organizations, make rivers safer by making such and non-profit groups can do much to help information widely available. Feather River fatality, Mike Heiser In further discussion concerning the in any potentially dangerous from the University of Idaho commented that has been given clear situation, the leader must make sure that the group In this case, the sequence of instructions prior to running the rapid. have been interrupted had members of events which led to the death might boater come out of their boat the group been instructed to wait should any finished On the Feather River, the leader had just and need to be rescued. If the started into the rapid. rescuing the first swimmer when the victim river prior to the victim's run, he leader had a chance to get back up the victim and give him another chance of might have been able to talk to the portaging. 162 SAFETY MATH BULLETIN Mahon Rapid Is ahem* dangerous to he unaware. Two lowlier =Wes have occurnal INITIATION Mallon (1982, 1994) In the same spot The surf wave tales boats to a sieve. Do not surf. Run N center or OM let CURIUM TAKES Wd located appmately YOU TO SIM dare' 1.6 mks horn put-In. *411.111111ft DAISOINOUS war WAYS all. A Oo UPPER GAULEYRIVER INMATION CLASS IV ---- 1/10094F mum MUD CAME NOCK Porireil 1111111611111MleIMMI.MMNIMM SURF CITY SURF CITY ISPMISIMIL I mom au Lou Mc as Osps a ISM US MI ewer am UU 8.8 July/August issue of REPRODUCTION of the Safety Bulletin published in the American Whitewater. Experienced Beiser also talked about the importance of the sweep boater. directions from their position in sweep boaters can help by shouting out point out the safe route to the rear or move into a key eddy where they can beginning boaters. reminded one Throughout the discussion, members of the Cornell group Very rarely do paddling groups set another that this was a class II river. In this case, the trip Class II rapids. up elaborate safety systems at the option to portage and leader was careful, allowed members of the group Moreover, it always easy otherwise took normal river running precautions. suggestions after the fact. for armchair river runners to make BEST COPY AVAILABLE 163 The process, however, of sitting down and talking through accidents is a Discussions about river fatalities can be easily valuable learning device. In their review of be incorporated into staff training sessions. accidents, trip initiators and trip leaders have the opportunity to analytically dissect actual situations and mentally prepared themselves for how they would react in an emergency. one small decision can In any study of accidents, one thing is apparent: have far reaching consequences and a snowballing impact on the course of Trip leaders and members of river groups must never events that follow. When weighing options on lose sight of the importance of small decisions. always be given a river, the option which is the most conservative should One can not let down their guard, even in something as due consideration. mundane as a class II rapids. A REVIEW OF 1995 ACCIDENTS The adage that history repeats itself applies as much to accidents as it That accidents do repeat themselves is obvious by looking does to history. The information at a summary of accidents from the 1995 whitewater season. American was summarized from an article in the September-October issue of Whitewater (Walbridge, 1995). WA Wind River 12/94 Disabled individual caught in hole and forced into long, fatal swim. NY West Branch of Cazenonia Creek 1/95 Solo boater wearing no life vest found recirculating in hole at bottom of 6' ledge (probably old dam site). PA Lehigh River 3/95 Two children died. "Toy" vinyl raft flipped. CA San Juaquin 3/95 One 7-year old girl Class I river, a canoe pinned against bridge abutment. died. VA Russell Fork Gorge 4/95 Experienced kayaker died when caught in undercut boulder GA Chattooga 4/95 Rafter died when sucked under rock slab AK Six Mile 5/95 Two men, not wearing life jackets, died on class IV-V stretch in Coleman Canoe WA Duckabush 5/95 Class IV river, vinyl raft flipped on log jam, one rafter died Mt North Fork of the Flathead 5/95 Victim was clipped into the chicken line and Raft flipped and pinned. drown while held under raft IN Whitewater River 5/95 Boater in a sea kayak was sucked into and held in the hydraulic under a seven foot high dam. 7 164 CA Merced River 5/95 willows drown while pinned against the Experienced rafters flipped and one and brush lining the shore CA North Fork American 6/95 swim boat twice and dies after lengthy Commercial raft guest falls out of CA North Fork Yuba 7/95 One rafter died probably from a flipped. Four rafts of a commercial party pin. MT Gallatin 6/95 safety line. Rafter's life jacket caught on the raft's Capsized raft. CO Colorado near Rifle 6/95 against a bridge abutment One fatality from raft broach WY Hoback River 6/95 strainer Missing solo kayaker found dead in a ID Snake River, Milner Stretch 6/95 after being caught in recirculating Big, class V water, Catarafter perished hole ID Snake, Alpine Stretch 6/95 The victim was initially entangled in a rope. Raft flipped and pinned. body not recovered for some time Her life jacket was pulled off and the afterward. CO Arkansas 6/95 swim. Ducky flipped and victim died during long CO Arkansas, Brown's Canyon' 7/95 Commercial rafting guest dies from swim TN Ocoee 6/95 entangled in rope that might Commercial rafting guest died after becoming have been a part of an old Z-drag system. WA Nooksack 7/95 log Two rafters trapped when their boat broached on a AR Cossatot 7/95 The other One rafter died from a foot entrapment. Toy vinyl raft flip. the first. died from a heart attack while attempting to rescue the accidents, but one common A number of similarities can be found among Loose ropes are killers and boaters theme in 1995 is related to ropes. all lines are safely tied or tucked must take extra care to make sure that in whitewater world in The 1995 year also continues a trend into bags. Walbridge attributes this to rise. which commercial fatalities are on the difficult water: "For years the more commercial companies running more of rafting guests have been physical ability, experience, and fitness skills make it possible Better equipment and improved guiding declining. guest who ends up in the water may to run more difficult rivers, but the overwhelmed and helpless." We beyond the commercial world. Walbridge's observation has implications Clubs, school trends in the non-commercial area. are experiencing the same harder whitewater than they have in the and city programs are all running need to make sure that participants in In light of this trend, we past. for the level of whitewater undertaken. programs are prepared properly There is much more, of course, that needs to be done with river accident Researchers have the wonderful opportunity to do some ground data. But from a teaching standpoint, case study information that breaking work. is presently available is a tremendous resource from which outdoor As you begin educators can learn from and apply to water-based programs. to make plans for your river training programs, be sure to include the Your staff will be better informed and study and review of case studies. prepared, and your program will be safer as a result. 9 166 REFERENCES Princeton university outdoor action Hale, A., & Curtis, R. (1995). (Available on the Princeton planning a safe river trip. program: University Outdoor Action Web Page, Internet). American Danger ahead. Tanger, B. (July/August, 1995). Safety: Whitewater, p. 25. The best of the river safety task force Walbridge, C. (Ed.). (1983). American Canoe Association. newsletter. Lorton, VA: River safety American canoe association: Walbridge, C. (Ed.). (1986). American Canoe Association. Lorton, VA: report 1982-1985. River safety American canoe association: Walbridge, C. (Ed.). (1989). American Canoe Association. Newington, VA: report 1986-1988. overview 1995. Walbridge, Charles (1995, September/October). River accident American Whitewater, pp. 29-37. 10 167