Health and Safety Report 2019

To enable the safe introduction of in-water Category A Compressed Air Emergency Breathing System (Cat-A EBS) training last year, an additional 'fitness to train' assessment was developed. Data collated for 2018 shows that of the 24,651 individual assessment completed, 450 individuals (nearly 2 per cent) were advised to undertake dry training only, as pre-existing health conditions put them at additional risk of injury if they undertook in-water training. In over one-third of such cases, this was due to asthma, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) at 27 per cent. The full breakdown is shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23: Medical Reasons for Dry Cat-A EBS Training, 2018

3

59

5

8

161

Asthma COPD ENT Problem Pneumothorax Pulmonary TB Sarcoidosis Other

57

35

125

Source: OGUK

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