- (a) General. The employer shall comply with the following requirements which are applicable to each diving operation unless otherwise specified.
(b) Water entry and exit.
- (1) A means capable of supporting the diver shall be provided for entering and exiting the water.
- (2) The means provided for exiting the water shall extend below the water surface.
- (3) A means shall be provided to assist an injured diver from the water or into a bell.
(c) Communications.
(1) An operational two-way voice communication system shall be used between:
- (i) Each surface-supplied air or mixed-gas diver and a dive team member at the dive location or bell (when provided or required); and
- (ii) The bell and the dive location.
- (2) An operational, two-way communication system shall be available at the dive location to obtain emergency assistance.
- (d) Decompression tables. Decompression, repetitive, and no-decompression tables (as appropriate) shall be at the dive location.
- (e) Dive profiles. A depth-time profile, including when appropriate any breathing gas changes, shall be maintained for each diver during the dive including decompression.
(f) Hand-held power tools and equipment.
- (1) Hand-held electrical tools and equipment shall be de-energized before being placed into or retrieved from the water.
- (2) Hand-held power tools shall not be supplied with power from the dive location until requested by the diver.
(g) Welding and burning.
(1) A current supply switch to interrupt the current flow to the welding or burning electrode shall be:
- (i) Tended by a dive team member in voice communication with the diver performing the welding or burning; and
- (ii) Kept in the open position except when the diver is welding or burning.
- (2) The welding machine frame shall be grounded.
- (3) Welding and burning cables, electrode holders, and connections shall be capable of carrying the maximum current required by the work, and shall be properly insulated.
- (4) Insulated gloves shall be provided to divers performing welding and burning operations.
- (5) Prior to welding or burning on closed compartments, structures or pipes, which contain a flammable vapor or in which a flammable vapor may be generated by the work, they shall be vented, flooded, or purged with a mixture of gases which will not support combustion.
(h) Explosives.
- (1) Employers shall transport, store, and use explosives in accordance with this section and the applicable provisions of §§ 1910.109 and 1926.912 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
- (2) Electrical continuity of explosive circuits shall not be tested until the diver is out of the water.
- (3) Explosives shall not be detonated while the diver is in the water.
(i) Termination of dive. The working interval of a dive shall be terminated when:
- (1) A diver requests termination;
- (2) A diver fails to respond correctly to communications or signals from a dive team member;
- (3) Communications are lost and can not be quickly re-established between the diver and a dive team member at the dive location, and between the designated person-in-charge and the person controlling the vessel in liveboating operations; or
- (4) A diver begins to use diver-carried reserve breathing gas or the dive-location reserve breathing gas.