DIVING SAFETY

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specifies that diving operations meet the commercial diving requirements listed in CFR 1910, Subpart T – Commercial Diving Operations, unless the diving conducted meets certain exemptions.  One of these exemptions is diving which is defined as “scientific diving” and which is under the direction and control of a diving program containing at least the following elements:

1. A diving safety manual which includes, at a minimum:

• Procedures covering all diving operations specific to the program
• Procedures for emergency care, including recompression and evacuation
• Criteria for diver training and certification.

2. A diving control (safety) board, with the majority of its members being active divers, which shall at a minimum have the authority to:

• Approve and monitor diving projects
• Review and revise the diving safety manual
• Assure compliance with the manual
• Certify the depths to which a diver has been trained
• Take disciplinary action for unsafe practices
• Assure adherence to the buddy system (a diver is accompanied by and is in continuous contact with another diver in the water) for SCUBA diving.

To meet these requirements all divers and individual dives must be pre-approved through the NC State Diving Safety Officer.  This section shall serve as the NC State Diving Safety Manual, providing minimum requirements for all University-related diving (see Scope section below).

Objective

This purpose of this program is to assure all scientific diving operations performed by employees of NC State are conducted safely and in compliance with applicable standards.  A secondary objective is to permit more efficient / effective diving operations through enhanced communication with knowledgeable contacts inside and outside of the university, developed in response to these requirements.

Scope

This section applies to all diving operations conducted at NC State University, excluding diving instruction classes (usually administered in pools), which involves the use of underwater breathing apparatus.

Definitions

Scientific Diving – diving performed solely as a necessary part of a scientific, research, or educational activity by employees whose sole purpose for diving is to perform scientific research tasks. Scientific diving does not include performing any tasks usually associated with commercial diving such as:  Placing or removing heavy objects underwater; inspection of pipelines and similar objects; construction; demolition; cutting or welding; or the use of explosives.

1. Diver Medical Qualifications – All divers must have medical fitness for diving cleared by NC State Student Health Services and the NC State Diving Safety Officer.
   
2. Diver Training and Certification – All divers shall be trained and certified through, or have training accepted and approved by, the NC State Diving Safety Officer. 
   
3. Procedures for Emergency Care – Prior to each dive, supervisors must assure that location-specific emergency care procedures are in place and understood by each diver.  These procedures must include at a minimum, procedures for recompression and evacuation, which are partially addressed by a requirement for all divers to obtain insurance coverage through the Divers Alert Network (DAN).  http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/