Thinking about Working in the Diving Industry?

Taken from School Leaver magazine issue 31.5

The image that most people have of diving is the one portrayed in countless television wildlife documentaries and glamorous holiday programmes: groups of recreational divers drifting effortlessly through warm, azure waters surrounded by a veritable aquarium of rainbow-coloured fish. If only all diving was like that...

One of my recent dives took place on a dismal day in March; the water was as grey as the clouds and as cold as ice. For most of the dive I could barely see my hands in front of my face. Rainbow-coloured fish? No chance! Just discarded shopping trolleys amid an array of broken concrete and twisted steel. Busying myself with the task in hand, I took comfort from the memory of past dives in tropical seas ­ and the thought that at least I was being paid to be there!

As a qualified commercial diver and a practising civil engineer, I usually don't get much of a choice as to where or when I dive ­ that's dictated by the work that has to be done. I dive as a means of getting to and from a work site. The work itself could be anything from carrying out a video survey of a breakwater to building a foundation for a bridge pier.

I began my diving career by learning to dive for leisure and sport. There are three main organisations which train recreational divers in the UK: the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), the Sub-Aqua Association (SAA) and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).

* BSAC is reputed to be the world's biggest dive club with over 55,000 members. It trains divers through a network of some 1,250 branches and 200 schools in over 50 countries. BSAC branches are normally run by local members who are free to organise and promote their own diving activities. Anyone can join a branch and take advantage of the facilities offered. Dive training can begin at the age of 14 and is usually conducted over a period of time. BSAC Schools offer the same training as the branches but as full-time concentrated programmes.

* The SAA is also based in the UK. It acts as a "forum" for a national network of independent diving clubs. SAA training programmes have been devised to ensure that trainee divers work through the grades of competence in an enjoyable and progressive way.

* PADI was founded in the USA and operates through a worldwide network of over 4,000 dive centres and resorts. Their educational programme takes a modular approach. Core courses, which teach essential diving skills, can be supplemented with optional speciality modules (e.g. photography, navigation, night diving, rescue). PADI also offers a career path to those who want a job in recreational diving ­ you could end up running your own PADI dive centre!

If you want a diving career in the UK, you must hold a commercial diving qualification. These are approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ­ the Government's safety supervisory body. You must also work within a set of legal rules, the Diving at Work Regulations 1997 (DWR).

There are many different types of working diver, each requiring different skills and competencies. These include:

• Offshore diving in support of the oil and gas industries
• Inland and inshore diving, for example, in support of civil engineering or fish farming
• Scientific and archaeological diving in support of research and education
• Media diving ­ working as presenters, stunt performers, photographers or sound and lighting technicians
• Recreational diving ­ involving the instruction and guiding of recreational divers
• Police and military diving.

There are three levels of commercial diver training:

1. The "entry" level qualification trains a diver to use SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), where the diver carries an air supply in cylinders

2. The next level of training is known as Surface Supplied Diving, where the diver receives an air supply via umbilical hose from the surface

3. The highest level of training is called Closed Bell Diving. These divers breathe mixed gases in order to dive deeper than 50 metres. They often live for weeks at a time in a compression chamber

The financial rewards for divers can be considerable, but so are the risks ­ diving is a potentially hazardous occupation. Good training will, however, minimise these risks through the application of safe working practices.

There are only a handful of places in the UK where you can train to be a commercial diver, and there's only one University that offers HSE-approved commercial diver training to its undergraduate students. Students who study civil and coastal engineering, ocean science or marine biology at the University of Plymouth are able to train as HSE Professional SCUBA divers as part of their normal curricular studies. The University has its own diving and sailing centre, where a team of full-time diving instructors work closely with academic lecturers.

12:01 AM - 10/13/2005 - post comment