The original name for DCS was "caisson disease". This term was introduced in the 19th century, when caissons under pressure were used to keep water from flooding large engineering excavations below the water table, such as bridge supports and tunnels. Workers spending time in high ambient pressure conditions are at risk when they return to the lower pressure outside the caisson if the pressure is not reduced slowly. DCS was a major factor during construction of Eads Bridge, when 15 workers died from what was then a mysterious illness, and later during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, where it incapacitated the project leader Washington Roebling. On the other side of the Manhattan island during construction of the Hudson River Tunnel, contractor's agent Ernest William Moir noted in 1889 that workers were dying due to decompression sickness; Moir pioneered the use of an airlock chamber for treatment.
The original name for DCS was "caisson disease". This term was introduced in the 19th century, when caissons under pressure were used to keep water from flooding large engineering excavations below the water table such as bridge supports and tunnels. Workers spending time in high ambient pressure conditions are at risk when they return to the lower pressure outside the caisson if the pressure is not reduced slowly DCS was a major factor during construction of Eads Bridge, when 15 workers died from what was then a mysterious illness, and later during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, where it incapacitated the project leader Washington Roebling. On the other side of the Manhattan island during construction of the Hudson River Tunnel, contractor's agent Ernest William Moir noted in 1889 t,hat workers were dying due to decompression sickness; Moir pioneered the use of an airlock chamber for treatment.