Newhaven Port fined for Health & Safety Failings

A Sussex port and an Italian shipping company have today been fined a total of £185,000 for health and safety failings after a worker drowned at Newhaven Docks. For more info click HERE.

London Hyperbaric Medicine ~ Dry Dive & Awareness

MD are planning another visit to LHM. If anyone from MD or other local dive clubs would like to join in please email me or add a comment (all non MD blog users comments are moderated, but don't let that stop all those people with odd names (!) adding a comments, they do bring a smile to the moderator!

Divers in Trouble on Newhaven Breakwater ~ 1st August 2010

A report from Newhaven RNLI:-

Solent CG paged our LOM at 17:01 to request that we launch to 5 divers thought to require assistance close to the west side of Newhaven breakwater. The crew were paged at 17:03 and the lifeboat left the side at 17:05 arriving on scene at the back of the breakwater at 17:11.

2 divers were sighted very close to the breakwater wall and the lifeboat was taken close and a heaving line thrown to pull them alongside. 1 crewman entered the water to assist them and they were recovered via the scrambling net. The remaining 3 divers were sighted some 20m from the wall and again the lifeboat went alongside and they were recovered up the scrambling net with assistance from a crew member in the water.

All persons were recovered aboard by 17:19 and the lifeboat returned to station arriving back on our berth at 17:27 when the divers were landed into the care of Newhaven CG.

And from Newhaven Coastguards:-

Solent Coastguard received a report from a member of the public that five divers were struggling to get ashore against the current, just behind the Western breakwater. This was confirmed by Newhaven NCI. Newhaven Lifeboat and Newhaven Coastguard Initial response team were tasked to investigate. The Lifeboat recovered the divers back to the Lifeboat station.

Lets Hear it For the Jet Skiers!

Ever wondered what it's like to be diving and about to surface only to hear Jet Skies whizzing back & forth over your head? Some of us have had that experience. It gets even better when after being asked to move away for safety by the dive boat flying an A Code flag (Divers Down) they just turn their attention to trying to swamp the dive boat.

Click HERE to see some Jest Skiers (did I say Jest?) up to similar 'tricks' on a moored boat. Just imagine how much fun it would be diving near that boat!

Cleaning Diving Equipment ~ Advice

A divers work is never done!

New advice has been issued in respect of cleaning diving equipment which is worth noting, particularly is you use equipment that is shared , for example:-

"Where equipment is shared between individuals, for example, during training and many commercial diving scenarios, there is potential for the spread of infectious agents from user to user. When equipment is shared, more frequent periodic disinfection would be appropriate, including the rinsing and disinfection of mouthpieces and oral nasals between dives. "

For more information click HERE!

All you ever didn't want to know about Diving Cylinders

For all info the latest update on the manufacture , inspection & carriage of diving cylinders , click HERE!

Sussex Coast Diving Incident ~ Saturday 8th August

Details of a tragic incident over the last week-end:-

BBC Souther Counties News

The Argus

Worthing Herald

Kit Servicing

Now that the cold weather is upon us, many of you may be thinking of hanging up your kit for winter - or taking the opportunity to get it serviced!

Graeme at OV is upholding the arrangement MD had with Den and will give a 10 % discount on kit servicing.

As I am over there most Wednesdays, I am more than happy to take any kit over & bring it back. All I ask is that you bring your kit to me!

Ideally, we could do a job lot in January - if you bring any kit & instructions to the MD meeting at end of January, this will ensure it is all done and back with testing time before some of us head off to the warmer waters in April.

Wanna 'Go Pro'?

Calling any divers who want to 'Go Pro'! One of our MDers is looking at going pro and it may be that others are also interested. In the PADI world going 'Pro' means getting your Divemaster qualification, but in practice , in terms of employment, relatively few Divemasters , even those 'at work' are actually employed or receive a wage. The same is true of many (but not all) PADI Instructors who to a considerable extent are not paid employees.

Of course, in the world of diving being a 'professional' has a much wider range of meaning. There are allsorts of professional divers who are not engaged with recreational diving instruction, such as research divers, media divers, commercial divers and police divers to name but a few. On top of that there are all kinds of different technologies beyond SCUBA involved in diving , surface supply being an eaxmple. So going 'Pro' offers huge potential beyong recreational instruction.

A starting place for professional diving is the HSE Scuba Diver qualification. This qualification allows employment in non-recreational instruction circumstances, for example taking part in a underwater media project. A different Codes of Practice and requirements applies to such work albeit it may be conducted on SCUBA. A cameraman or safety diver involved in a professional media project requires qualifications not available as part of PADI training for example.

Andark Diving offers the HSE SCUBA Diver course and an appropriate qualification would potentially open the door to wider diving experience and for employment or contracted work. If you are interested in this kind of development take a look at the following link:-

http://www.andark.co.uk/site/diver_training/hse/default.aspx

If you ever looked at underwater documentaries on television and thought 'I'd love to do that!' then may be you should be thinking about really going 'Pro'!

Stop Press! Meridian Divers in the Chamber

As I write a party of Meridian Divers are in the 'pot' . No it's not that kind of party! They are all at London Hyperbaric Medicine for a recompression awareness course. I first organised divers training visits to the Chamber in 2005 and several trips since then has seen continued enthusiasm for this well regarded trip. It's also very gratifying to see that other diving groups have also appreciated the value of this training.

Full report on the visit in due course.

Recompression Chamber Visit ~ 9th November

'Joining Instructions' for all those taking part have been emailed out today. If you are on this trip and haven't received the details - add a comment or drop me an email!

Please read the instructions carefully - especially if you want the PADI Specialty Certification!

Scuba Industries Trade Association

The sharp eyed amongst you will have seen that our 'links' section (right side of screen) has carried a link to SITA, the Scuba Industries Trade Association.

SITA have laudable aims and these include :-

To promote, market and represent the Manufacture, Retail and Training sectors of the Scuba Diving Industry and to advise on Government and Local Authority Regulations and to work together to improve the safety standards and encompass the Conservation aspect in Scuba Diving.

I have been a associate member of SITA since 2005, they have been very helpful in providing safety information and information on European & International Standards. Their website provides plenty of good information for divers including a guide on risk assessment. Worth a look.

RIDDOR and Diving

More for your safety training:-

RIDDOR - The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, did you know that certain injuries or occurences in work situations are reportable to the Health & Safety Executive ? This is in addition to any diving agency reporting requirements.

Decompression illness is a reportable disease under the Regulations and reportable dangerous occurences (near misses) include failure or endangering of diving equipment, the trapping of a diver, an explosion near a diver, or an uncontrolled ascent.

To learn more about RIDDOR and how to make a report click HERE

Three Divers (Don't All) Suffer the Bends in Separate Incidents

Three divers were picked up on Saturday 11th October by the Lee-on-Solent based Coastguard helicopter in two separate incidents, when the divers began complaining of signs associated with decompression sickness.

Full story on the MCA website click HERE

Meridian Divers wish a speedy recovery to all those divers involved.

[Update - Good news, two of the three didn't get bent! False alarm -good intent!]

Local Firm Raises Marina HSE Failures Concern

Two Meridian Divers contacted me today to say that a local Newhaven dive company has published its fears that there have been breaches of the HSE requirements at Brighton Marina. Any debate on diving safety is a healthy one.

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 the Secretary of State approved the Code of Practice entitled "Recreational Diving Projects" . The Code , known as the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) is an HSC publication and is itslef made under the Diving at Work Regulations 1997.

The ACOP applies to 'diving at work' . The application of that term has always been one that has been argued by dive businesses, but broadly speaking if you are involved in a diving project where someone is getting paid to provide dive training it will apply to you. So being involved in a dive project and going diving with your buddy are two distinct things.

Where there is an 'at work' situation , there has to be a dive contractor , a dive supervisor a diving project plan & risk assessment and more besides. The dive contractor is responsible for all of that. The risk assessment would need to take account of the type of student divers involved.

The company fears that HSE regulations are being breached in Brighton Marina by their own members in as much that they aren't following a "stipulation" that the Marina entrance be buoyed-off. Neither the Regulations nor the ACOP refers to Brighton Marina or indeed buoying but a risk assessment produced by a Dive Contractor may use buoying as a control measure. This is undoubtedly, in the case of Brighton Marina a good idea. But then I would say that because I have previously written risk assessments for Dive Contractors using Brighton Marina that have said exactly that. But such risk assessements were written for 'at work' situations in a place where 'first-time' open water divers were often in the Marina. That said it IS a good idea to buoy-off a dive area in Brighton Marina whether 'at work' or not at work.

Having been in Brighton Marina only yesterday I very much support the idea of buoying-off an area (whilst there is always a practical problem of divers not being able to see the buoys from under the water, it at least keeps the rare boat movement away from the entry & exit points). Once upon a time there were such buoys across the area used by divers (with permission) in Brighton Marina. I haven't seen them there for a very long time.

So WHO should provide the buoys ? That's a good question - but not a new one! The HSE publication "Managing health & safety at Recreational Dive Sites" (how many have read that?) gives guidance primarily to site owners / operators. The Local Authority (Brighton & Hove City Council ) is the enforcing authority for managed dive sites. The guidance puts lots of responsibilities on owners / operators including providing information on hazards , it specifically covers shared use sites (ie divers & boats!) It's a 47 page document so I won't try to summarise it here. But the question is 'who is responsible'? for the safety of the site itself? Is it the Brighton Marina Management or the dive centres that 'operate' diving from there? Whose insurance covers the safety divers using the site itself - after all (as we did yesterday) divers have to pay to use the site . As paying customers we should know who is taking care of the safety issues. If you visit Stoney Cove it's very clear who manages safety there , is it so clear at Brighton Marina?

Breaches of Healthy & Safety law are a serious business they can result in fines, imprisonment or both.

The question of 'permission' to use Brighton Marina has also been highlighted. There is a clear sign at the Marina saying "Diving by permission only". Who gives this permission it doesn't say. It seems that several dive businesses use this shallow water for providing recreational diving instruction whist 'at work'. At one time only a single dive business used it, but, as was predicted on this blog , it is now used by other buisnesses. Do each of the businesses have the authority to give permission? I am sure the business we paid for the priviledge of using the water had that authority. If a business gives permission in exchange for money I think we get a clearer picture of who is responsible for the site.

At the very least I would hope that the various commercial concerns involved in diving at the Marina, ie the Marina itself and the several businesses with a fintip-in-the-water are clear on their joint responsibilities. The local firm's concern seems to suggest that all are not as clued-up as you might hope for. One thing I learnt when I completed my HSE Approved Diving Contractors Course is that there is a lot to think about and that is without even getting in to the realms of PADI Standards which of course are not law. PADI standards say there should be a minimum of 6meters water for an open water dive but you won't find that in written in anything by HSE.

A healthy debate indeed, one that should benefit all divers and one fully supported by Meridian Divers.

Did Someone Mention Seals?

So you reckon I'm tame do you?

One more wrong move from you frog man and I'll savage yer flippers!

Collaboration in Action

Recent Meridian Diver socials and dive trips have shown the benefits of collaboration and mutual support , what has been achieved has been utterly impressive, way beyond anything I have previously experienced in the world of SCUBA diving.

I think the MD network has shown the way for others to follow and I think, not least with the economic downturn that the whole country is facing that businesses too are likely to look more and more at collaborative approaches. It doesn't make great economic sense to have assets sitting around under used so the best use of resources may be for businesses to break-down their traditional boundaries and work in a more networked collaborative fashion. SCUBA industries will probably increasingly discover this as necessity is the mother of invention (even if we're not sure who the father is!!)

Keeping boats, dive sites and providing other diving services is costly and if disposable income continues to drop we will undoubtedly see greater collaboration in the industry. This is good news for a network of divers (or customers if you prefer) all looking for quality opportunities and able to share information on 'what's good'! Of course something to watch-out for in any economic downtown is cost-cutting causing a downward pressure on standards!

Selsey Pier ~ Diver Recall Signal

Hi all,
You may or may not be aware of a situation that happened a couple of weeks ago that I think everyone should be made aware of if you are going to dive Selsey Lifeboat Station. On Sat 14th June there was a call for the Lifeboat to attend a situation, this was the 25ton offshore vessel not the inshore RIB, when a sharp-eyed crew member spotted bubbles directly in front of the launch ramp were divers were diving with no SMB so rather than launching the vessel to the emergency [a yacht had run aground no casualties, unknown to the RNLI crew!] they spent 10 minutes trying to alert divers by banging on the Pier until they moved out of the way then lifeboat was deployed to the emergency.

A recall signal has now been agreed with the Lifeboat Station and diving organisations regulary using the site which consists of:- 3 BANGS-GAP-3 BANGS when heard please surface immediately but as safely as possible,and please don`t forget SMBs must be used at all times on the site and obviously don`t dive in front of launch ramp! Safe diving!

Equipment Course

Some divers could be forgiven for not taking the Equipment Course on the basis that they think :-

1). they know enough about their kit already,
2). the course is not going to help them, and
3). person presenting the course will not be particularly experienced.

Well divers have an uncanny knack of always thinking they know it all the second they get their first certification, but they may be right about point 2). if they don't get the right person takinng them through the course.

How do you get the right person? Well it helps to have an Instructor who has the manuafcturers own certifications plus the ASSET technicians qualification. It helps even more to know that the Instructor is the person who has been servicing your kit (and many others) for years ! And so it was at today's course with Simon Forster.

Now, I have know some Equipment Course students be quickly run through rather a slim syllabus in a matter of a few hours. Simon, however , spent a complete day with his students and stripped down & reassembled almost every piece of scuba kit apart from a rebreather. I've done a few dives and picked-up a certification or two on the way but I have to say I learnt a lot on this course, information that will continue to stand me, hopefully, in good stead.

If you missed this course, you might think about doing one if you are going to get immersed (!) in diving. But DO make sure you get someone with the training, experience & knowledge . And lets face it's a good way to spend a January day as you prepare for another seasons diving!

ADVICE For DMs & Instructors: The Course advised "If you use your equipment for teaching (paid or unpaid) , then under the HSE Diving at Work Regulations you MUST be able to PROVE that your equipment has been serviced regularly."

Equipment Course & Servicing ~ Update

Just to confirm that Ocean View will give us 10% discount again on kit servicing if it's taken down on mass, and I am happy to take it down.

Also, the Equipment Speciality Course covers more than the normal PADI certification. It includes dry & wet suit repairs plus a lot more in depth knowledge re maintaining dive equipment - could be handy for when we dig out our moth bitten suits for the first dive of the season!!