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Permalink Reply by A.. Parnell on October 29, 2010 at 10:39am

Dan this is a case where the regulations are out of touch with the activity. In my opinion OSHA needs to update and tailor their regulations to the activity shallow water recreational boat hull scrubbing as it is hardly commercial diving. OSHA needs to exempt recreational boat hull scrubbing from their regulations in this case. I first came across hookah diving to do recreational marina hull scrubbing back in 1970 its not exally commercial diving. Every now in then someone gets on the band wagon and here we go again. What say you ?

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Permalink Reply by A.. Parnell on October 29, 2010 at 11:12am

Hull cleaning should be exempted-other marina commercial diving jobs like the type under the photo section here in cdiver where divers are doing real commercial work should not be done with shallow marina scuba/hookah hull cleaning companies that is strictly commercial diving work hull cleaners need to be trainned at commercial dive schools for this type of work. One problem is small time scuba/hookah dive company operators think they can horn in and do this work in an untrained, unsafe and for cheaper thereby screwing up the mix between scuba/hookah diving and commercial diving operators. They cross the line here for safety and civilized dive work standards- here lies alot of the problems. Comments ?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Dolson on October 29, 2010 at 3:46pm

I think that the SCUBA operators who do the small boat marina work should follow OSHA regs, but OSHA should add a section to the regs about this type of "shallow marina" work. In that case, the divers might be able to work on SCUBA, but should have a tender or someone who can assist if necessary. The key to all of this is diver safety.

If OSHA can come up with a set of regs for marina small vessel operations (such as minimum manning, safety standards, and even equipment minimums), this might work for everyone. It is true that a basic SSA diver spread is impractical for a small time operator who just wants to clean boats and change zinks -- that I agree on. Give them something that is reasonable for their type of work and let the companies which chose to follow those rules be able to claim that the "follow OSHA regulations." This might give them a competitive advantage over non-compliant "SCUBA Joes" and could even lower their insurance costs. Of course, I am assuming that they get legitimate insurance.

Due to the name of our company, we get calls for changing zinks and finding lost items in marinas. I pass those leads off to a local SCUBA operator who I know actually has insurance and follows the rules as best they can. The more business he gets, the more likely that he'll keep his equipment up-to-date and maintained.

Dan

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Permalink Reply by Fred C. Johnson on October 29, 2010 at 11:35am

there are an average of 300 SCUBA deaths per year and that is a factor on the insurance rates for Commercial Dive Companies.
Hull cleaning is commercial diving ( If you are paid its commercial diving ) these guys get wound up in props, run over etc. every year. OSHA regulations are there for a reason and to exempt Hull cleaners is opening the door to exempt every thing.
What about the single SCUBA diver that picks up golf balls for a living. He is out there by himself and in one case I know an alligator tried to eat one.
OSHA levels the playing field. Just ask the boat owner that lost everything he owned because a SCUBA hull scrubber drowned under his boat.
If they dont follow the rules put the bastards out of business.

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