Commercial Divers

Commercial diving is a branch of professional diving divided into Offshore diving, Inland/Inshore diving, and HAZMAT diving.

Offshore diving involves a commercial diver working in support of the exploration and production sector in oil and gas industries. Inland/Inshore diving is similar to offshore diving as to equipments used and nature of work. The only difference is being based inland supporting civil engineering projects, mostly doing underwater surveys or engineering work. HAZMAT diving, considered the most dangerous of commercial diving only employs highly skilled and experienced divers. They need to dive into raw sewage or dangerous chemicals like paper pulp, liquid cement, or oil sludge.

To better understand these divers, the best example is San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The beauty and engineering work of the bridge is greatly owed to these divers. They withstood strong tidal currents and murky waters for a strong foundation and to place a “fender”. The fender protected the bridge from stray ships caught in the fog. To work under those conditions, the divers had to use hoses, explosives, and other tools to blast away rock, smooth the ocean floor and clear away debris.

All divers carry their own scuba diving gear when going for a dive. SCUBA is defined as Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. For deeper or long dives, the divers are supported by umbilical systems wearing helmets and using an air line attached to the surface.

For those doing constructions and maintenance of underwater structures, they inspect structures and areas assigned to them. Example would be inspecting ships’ propellers for signs of damage. When they find one, they immediately repair it using welding equipment, drills, and other tools before the next voyage of the ship. Others may need to blast away rocks and debris to make way for new structures to be built.

But not all divers do construction. Others, using their scuba gear, are employed to search for missing items or people while some take photographs of marine life.

For a diver to be safe, one has to keep track of the length and depth of the dive. The diver has to communicate at all times with dive tenders for any changes underwater and even on the surface. Divers also need to keep their gear in good condition by cleaning it properly to get rid of salt and other debris. And for upgrades to their gears, divers can turn to diving magazines or books.