DIVER HEALTH AND SAFETY REPRESENTATION

Putting aside the obvious concerns captured in the ‘Regulatory Gap’ article which many divers especially in the Inshore Diving sector will be impacted by, there is another obvious shortcoming for the diving sector in terms of representation. There is no structure for the election of and training of Safety Representatives in the dive teams. In the offshore diving sector, there tends to be a ‘rep’ assigned to attend what are largely Maritime Health & Safety meetings on board a vessel, but this is usually a Supervisor. For the Inshore sector there is no structure of any kind for the dive teams.

This is an issue which RMT has raised with the HSE who are responsible for “Diving at Work” irrespective of whether it’s from a vessel or a quay side. However, they are only responsible when diving is actually taking place. If the diver is hurt on the deck of a vessel or during a transfer then the divers, just like the rest of the workforce referred to in the ‘Regulatory Gap’ article, are not covered.

The dive teams have unique and specific issues which they should absolutely have the appropriate representation to raise on their behalf. The expression ‘workforce engagement’ is widely used when talking about health and safety and the involvement of the workforce. However, in the absence of any representative structure and the considering the contractual approach used for divers, it is difficult to see how they can have any meaningful input. RMT see this issue as a priority and will continue to pursue the issue with the regulator.