The Professional Diving Academy

This is a commercial qualification allowing divers to dive to 50 metres breathing air using surface supplied diving equipment and allows divers to work in the inshore diving market. Deep assessment and training dives will be carried out at depths of between 40 & 50 metres. This teaches surface supplied diving to already scuba qualified divers. Surface demand equipment is used including Aga masks, bandmasks, modern helmets (Superlite 17b, 17K and 27) from Kirby Morgan, free-flow helmets and hot water suits. The operation of dive control panels and deck decompression chambers (DDC's) is also part of the course.

For safety in commercial dives nearly all decision making, with regards to life support systems, is taken away from the diver and controlled by a trained Diving Supervisor. This allows the diver to concentrate on the task to be done. Diving gas/air is supplied from the surface. Depth, dive duration and decompression requirements are controlled by the Supervisor.

Commercial diving operations come under the Health and Safety at Work Act and it is therefore necessary for employers to minimise risk to the diver. The UK Commercial diving industry has evolved diving procedures under an ACOP (Approved Code of Practise) to produce very safe diving environment.

This commercial qualification allows divers to dive to 50 metres breathing air using surface supplied diving equipment and is required to work in the inshore diving market. Deep assessment and training dives will be carried out at depths of between 40 & 50 metres.

What You Do:

Initial training dives will be within the diving tank to help students become familiar in the use of the equipment - this is the first time many will have used a diving helmet and be attended by a surface support crew and standby diver. Open water dives may take place from the pier, and / or the school's 38m long diving vessel. These dives are planned not to use decompression and the decompression chamber. However the chamber is always on standby.

The students are introduced to dive supervision within the Dive Control Cabin practising the use of diver comms, diving panels and underwater video systems. Tooling experiences extend to include underwater cutting and welding, hydraulic drills, grinders, and impact wrenches, air lifts for silt removal, water jetting, and a brushcart hull cleaning system for the removal of marine growth from piers, legs and vessels. Methods of entry to the water for fully dressed and helmeted divers are taught. These include jumps, ladders/platforms. Divers also experience being lowered into the water in an air-basket as part of a two-diver team.

Equipment Used:

Dives involve using Kirby Morgan 17b, 17K and 37 helmets and KMB 18 and 28 Bandmasks. The diver also wears commercial neoprene drysuits and combination harnesses which are safety, recovery, tool and weight belts.

Commercial Surface Supplied Diver