Citation

Chin W, Huchim-Lara O, Salas S. Undersea Hyperb. Med. 2016; 43(4): 411-419.

Affiliation

Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN Unidad Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

28763170

Abstract

Artisanal fishermen in the Yucatán Peninsula utilize hookah dive systems (HDS). The air compressors in these HDS are not filtered, and the intake is near the engine exhaust. This proximity allows carbon monoxide (CO) from the exhaust to directly enter the HDS volume tank and contaminate the fishermen diver's air supply. Conservative safety standards permit a diver's air supply to contain 10 parts per million (ppm) of CO. This study quantified the levels of CO in the diver's air supply both before and after physical separation of the engine exhaust from the compressor intake. CO levels in seven volume tanks were analyzed before and after a 1-inch hose was attached to the compressor intake and elevated 5 feet above the engine exhaust. The tanks were drained and refilled before collecting each set of pre- and post-intervention gas samples. Four CO measurements were collected before and after the intervention from each volume tank. A C-Squared© CO Analyzer (± 1 ppm), calibrated with a Praxair 70 ppm CON2 gas (± 5%), was used to analyze the gas samples. A paired samples t-test shows a statistically significant difference in average CO values before and after the intervention (t = 6.8674, df: 27; p⟨0.0001). The physical separation of the engine exhaust from the compressor intake reduced the CO contamination of the diver air supply by 72%. This intervention could be applied to the hookah systems in the rest of the fishing cooperative to reduce the divers' risk of CO poisoning.

Copyright© Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

Language: en

Keywords

artisanal fisheries; carbon monoxide; decompression sickness; diving; hookah diving; surface-supplied diving