Diving Inland and Inshore

There are a large number of construction and engineering tasks which require the use of skilled qualified divers.  During the development years of the offshore oil & gas fields in the North Sea and other countries, large numbers of divers were employed in extremely hazardous and often fatal undertakings.  Young men who had little or no training outside of sport diving were often employed and in response, standards were introduced to regulate these practices, also to lay down minimum standards of personnel and training.

Thankfully these original regulations and the introduction of specialist equipment such as Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV’s) has drastically reduced the numbers of accidents happening in the Offshore Industry.  This has not however been the case with regard to “Commercial Diving Projects Inland / Inshore”, the title of the code of practice approved by the Commerce and Employment Department on the 17th May, 1999.

The Code of Practice written in the UK to clarify the Diving at Works Regulations 1997, was approved by Commerce and Employment after consultation with the local professional diving industry.  Several amendments were included, in particular local professional divers were granted a period of “ grandfather rights” prior to holding an approved professional diving qualification.

Therefore all professional divers operating locally, must hold an approved diving qualification, no later than 1st May 2002.

Issues dealt with in the Codes include matters such as diving project planning and risk assessment; dive teams and associated working practices; diving plant and medical checks.