91Èȱ¬

What Can Go Wrong?

• Someone could experience a diving related condition, e.g. Decompression illness, Barotrauma.
• Someone could drown.          
• Diver could be lost.
• Equipment could fail.
• Dive team including presenter may lack the necessary competence for the dive.
• Illness due to Exposure to weather e.g. hypothermia, sun stoke.
• Exposure to marine life.
• Seasickness.

Legal/91Èȱ¬ Requirements

• When diving in UK waters, the Diving at Work regulations and associated ACOPs should be followed.
• UK divers must have undertaken a HSE medical within the 12 months prior to the dive taking place.

Control Measures 

Scuba Diving: The Dive Team

• Appoint someone competent to manage the diving operations; in the UK this would be a Diving Contractor from the 91Èȱ¬ Approved List.
• Check that the diving contractor has suitable insurance in place to cover the diving activities. Any liability waivers must be seen by 91Èȱ¬ insurance prior to the dive taking place.
• The diving contractor is responsible for providing a risk assessment and dive plan, this will include the emergency action plan.
• The diving contractor must appoint a diving supervisor, who is responsible for managing diving operations on the day and they do not dive. They must have experience of the type of diving that they are managing.
• The Diving Supervisor has complete authority over the diving operation.
• When working outside of the UK and the diving contractor is unfamiliar with providing risk assessments, please complete the 91Èȱ¬ questionnaire.
• All people in the water are to be in pairs. Unless specifically authorised by the diving supervisor.
• All members of the dive team must be fit to dive and notify the diving supervisor of any medical issues. It is a UK requirement that all members of the dive team must have a current HSE medical certificate.
• No member of the dive team that is pregnant is permitted to dive.

 Competency

• Undertake reasonable checks on diver competency e.g. obtain copies of diver qualifications or verify with their certifying agency that they are certified for the level of diving intended.
• When operating in the UK all of the behind the camera divers must hold a HSE diving qualification.
• When operating outside of the UK, the dive team must be certified to at least CMAS 3 Star standard or equivalent (e.g. PADI Divemaster).
• Presenters: If presenting underwater forms the majority of work that the presenter undertakes then they must hold a diving qualification of at least CMAS 3 Star or equivalent.
• Where a presenter doesn’t normally work underwater and holds lower qualifications than CMAS 3 Star (or equivalent) or doesn’t hold any diving qualifications at all, then additional controls will need to be put in place to ensure their safety.
• Refresher sessions may be required for those diving that haven’t dived for some time, or are using new pieces of equipment that they are unfamiliar with.
• All divers must only dive within the limits of their qualifications.
• Where rebreathers are to be used, diver certification is specific to the rebreather model specified by the manufacturer.
• Seek further advice from 91Èȱ¬ Safety with regard to the suitability of qualifications.
• The Dive team should be competent in handling any specialist production equipment during the dive.
• Obtain confirmation that all equipment used in the diving operations is suitably maintained as per manufacturers’ recommendations or legal requirements.

Emergency Planning

• Oxygen as a first aid measure must be present on the surface and someone suitably trained in its administration must be available at all times.
• Suitably qualified first aid trained personnel are to be available on the surface at all times and shouldn’t have another important role that may take precedence.
• Two people are to be present on the surface to assist with recovering a diver from the water.
• A two person, two compartment compression chamber should be within 6 hours travel time of the diving operations unless: the dives carry a higher risk of Decompression Illness (DCI), or the dives are deeper than 50 metres or will entail more than 20 minutes in-water decompression, in which case the compression chamber should be on site for immediate use.

Free diving and Snorkelling

• Everyone in the water must have a means of achieving surface buoyancy.
• Throwing lines and buoyancy aids should be available to throw to a person in difficulty.
• There must be someone on the surface with lifesaving skills capable of mounting a rescue.
• Where surface dives are to take place, there must be an appropriate rescue plan in place, which would enable an unconscious person to be recovered from the bottom.

Division Specific Issues

• No division specific issues. 

FAQs/Did You Know?

• You should allow a suitable amount of time before diving after flying. A general recommendation is 10 hours to allow suitable rehydration to take place.
• You should allow 24 hours before flying after the completion of diving operations.
• Some seasickness medications are not suitable for divers. Always check first.
• Some diving associations allow you to verify their divers qualifications via their website.