Professional diving


Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. Occupational diving has a similar meaning and applications. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Due to the dangerous nature of some professional diving operations, specialized equipment such as an on-site hyperbaric chamber and diver-to-surface communication system is often required by law, and the mode of diving for some applications may be regulated.
There are several branches of professional diving, the best known of which is probably commercial diving and its specialised applications, commercial offshore diving, inshore civil engineering diving, marine salvage diving, hazmat diving, and ships husbandry diving. There are also applications in scientific research, marine archaeology, fishing and aquaculture, public safety, law enforcement, military service, media work and diver training.
Any person wishing to become a professional diver normally requires specific training that satisfies any regulatory agencies which have regional or national authority, such as US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive or South African Department of Employment and Labour. International recognition of professional diver qualifications and registration exists between some countries.

Procedural aspects

The primary procedural distinction between professional and recreational diving is that the recreational diver is responsible primarily for their own actions and safety but may voluntarily accept limited responsibility for dive buddies, whereas the professional diver is part of a team of people with extensive responsibilities and obligations to each other and usually to an employer or client, and these responsibilities and obligations are formally defined in contracts, legislation, regulations, operations manuals, standing orders and compulsory or voluntary codes of practice. In many cases a statutory national occupational health and safety legislation constrains their activities. The purpose of recreational diving is basically for personal entertainment, while the professional diver has a job to do, and diving is necessary to get that job done. Recreational diving instruction and dive leadership are legally considered professional diving in some jurisdictions, particularly when the diver is employed for that purpose, and even when this is not the case, occupational health and safety regulation may apply, even when self employed, regarding duty of care to clients.

Diving operations

A diving operation is a professional dive and the activity in preparation for, and in support of, the specific dive. The diving operation is controlled by the diving supervisor, is expected to follow the dive plan, is conducted by the diving team, and is recorded in the diving operations record. A diving operation is over when the last diver has completed decompression and is out of the water.

Diving projects

A diving project is a coordinated set of diving operations for a particular purpose, often the responsibility of a diving contractor. This would include mobilisation and setup of the diving spread at the start, and demobilisation at the end of the project. Depending on the size of the project, the project manager may be the senior supervisor, or the diving superintendent.

Diving contractor

A diving contractor is the legal entity responsible for the execution of diving operations for a client. The diving contractor is responsible for ensuring that the diving operations are safe, that a competent diving team is appointed, and the contracted work is done to specifications.

Diving team

A diving team is a group of people who conduct a diving operation. A characteristic of professional diving is the specification for minimum personnel for the diving support team. This typically specifies the minimum number of team members and their appointed responsibilities in the team based on the circumstances and mode of diving, and the minimum qualifications for specified members of the diving team. The minimum team requirements may be specified by regulation or code of practice. Specific appointments within a dive team for which competences are specified and registration may be required are listed below.
Core diving team:
  • – On telephonic standby.
Additional member for surface-supplied air diving using a low pressure compressor:
Additional member for bell diving:
Additional member for dives with a chamber on site:
Additional member for surface-supplied mixed gas diving:
Additional members for offshore diving:
Additional personnel for saturation diving:
  • - One per shift.
Additional members for remotely operated underwater vehicle support:

  • Regulation of activities

Professional diving activities are generally regulated by health and safety legislation, but in some cases may be exempted from the national or state diving regulations for specific diving applications, such as scientific diving or public safety diving, when they operate under a recognised code of practice for that application. Commercial offshore diving takes place outside the limits of national jurisdiction and is generally regulated by industry consensus standards of voluntary membership organisations such as the International Marine Contractors Association.

Codes of practice

A code of practice for professional diving is a document that complements occupational health and safety laws and regulations to provide detailed practical guidance on how to comply with legal obligations, and should be followed unless another solution with the same or better health and safety standard is in place, or may be a document for the same purpose published by a self-regulating body to be followed by member organisations.
Codes of practice published by governments do not replace the occupational health and safety laws and regulations, and are generally issued in terms of those laws and regulations. They are intended to help understand how to comply with the requirements of regulations. A workplace inspector can refer to a code of practice when issuing an improvement or prohibition notice, and they may be admissible in court proceedings. A court may use a code of practice to establish what is reasonably practicable action to manage a specific risk. Equivalent or better ways of achieving the required work health and safety may be possible, so compliance with codes of practice is not usually mandatory, providing that any alternative systems used provide a standard of health and safety equal to or better than those recommended by the code of practice.

Operations manual

The operations manual is the diving contractor's in-house documentation specifying the procedures authorised for diving operations conducted by the company. It will refer to relevant legislation and codes of practice and will specify the organisation of the company and the chain of responsibility. Standard operating procedures for the activities normally conducted by the company may be described in sufficient detail that all affected parties can understand how the organisation operates, or may refer to other documents such as the equipment manufacturer's maintenance instructions for details.

Records

Professional diving operations are generally required to be documented for legal reasons related to contractual obligations and health and safety. Divers are required to keep their personal diving logbooks up to date, supervisors are required to record the specifics of a diving operation on the diving operations record. The dive plan is generally documented, and includes a description of the planned work, specification of the equipment to be used, the expected dive profile, and the outcome of the relevant risk assessment.

Branches of professional diving

Commercial diving

Commercial diving may be considered an application of professional diving where the diver engages in underwater work for industrial, construction, engineering, maintenance or other commercial purposes which are similar to work done out of the water, and where the diving is usually secondary to the work.
In some legislation, commercial diving is defined as any diving done by an employee as part of their job, and for legal purposes this may include scientific, public safety, media, and military diving. That is similar to the definition for professional diving and occupational diving, but in those cases the difference is in the status of the diver within the organisation of the diving contractor. This distinction may not exist in other jurisdictions. In South Africa, any person who dives under the control and instructions of another person within the scope of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, is within the scope of the Diving Regulations, 2009. In the UK, the Diving at Work Regulations, 1997, apply.
Major applications of commercial diving include:
  • – Diving in support of civil engineering projects.
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  • *Inspection, nondestructive testing, and repair
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    Scientific diving

Scientific diving is the use of diving techniques by scientists to study underwater what would normally be studied by scientists. Scientific divers are normally qualified scientists first and divers second, who use diving equipment and techniques as their way to get to the location of their fieldwork. The direct observation and manipulation of marine habitats afforded to scuba-equipped scientists have transformed the marine sciences generally, and marine biology and marine chemistry in particular. Underwater archeology and geology are other examples of sciences pursued underwater. Some scientific diving is carried out by universities in support of undergraduate or postgraduate research programs.
Government bodies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the UK Environment Agency carry out scientific diving to recover samples of water, marine organisms and sea, lake or riverbed material to examine for signs of pollution.
Equipment used varies widely in this field, but surface supplied equipment though quite uncommon in the UK is growing in popularity in the U.S. Most scientific dives are relatively short duration and shallow, and surface supplied equipment is cumbersome and relatively expensive. The safety record of scuba for scientific diving has been good, and it is considered acceptable for most scientific diving by several national and international codes of practice.
Not all scientific divers are professionals; some are amateurs who assist with research or contribute observations on citizen science projects out of personal interest.
Scientific diving organizations include:
Standard references for scientific diving operations include: