Product Overview

Summary: This SOP sets out a clear, compliant system for creating, maintaining and reviewing personal diving records for occupational divers in Australia. It helps businesses demonstrate due diligence, protect diver health and safety, and maintain watertight documentation in line with WHS and industry expectations.

Personal diving records are a critical safety and compliance tool for any organisation that undertakes occupational diving, from commercial construction and aquaculture through to scientific research and emergency response. This SOP provides a structured, repeatable process for how personal dive logs, exposure histories, fitness-to-dive clearances and incident data are created, verified, stored and reviewed. It ensures that every dive is traceable, that cumulative exposure is monitored, and that the right information is available when planning future dives or responding to an incident.

In the Australian WHS context, regulators and clients increasingly expect robust evidence that diving work is planned and managed based on accurate, up‑to‑date diver records. Poor record management can lead to unsafe task allocation, undetected over‑exposure, fitness‑to‑dive issues, and difficulty defending decisions after an incident. This SOP solves those problems by defining who is responsible for record keeping, what must be recorded for each dive, how medical and training records are linked, and how records are protected and retained. It supports compliance with relevant legislation and standards while making it easy for supervisors and divers to maintain high‑quality records as part of everyday operations.

The procedure is written specifically for Australian workplaces and can be integrated into existing dive management systems, project plans and WHS documentation. It supports both electronic and paper-based record systems, and includes guidance on privacy, data security, audit trails and integration with incident reporting. By implementing this SOP, businesses gain a defensible system that improves diver safety, simplifies audits and builds confidence with clients and regulators.

Key Benefits

• Ensure every occupational dive is consistently documented, verified and traceable for safety and compliance purposes.
• Reduce the risk of assigning dives to personnel who are medically unfit, inadequately trained or over-exposed based on their dive history.
• Streamline audits, regulator inspections and client prequalification by maintaining organised, easily retrievable diving records.
• Support informed dive planning and risk assessments with accurate data on previous dives, decompression exposure and incident history.
• Demonstrate due diligence and strong WHS governance, reducing legal and reputational risk following an incident or near miss.

Who is this for?

• Dive Supervisors
• Occupational Divers
• Commercial Diving Contractors
• WHS Managers
• Marine Project Managers
• Offshore Construction Supervisors
• Aquaculture Operations Managers
• Scientific Diving Coordinators
• Emergency Response and Rescue Team Leaders
• HSEQ Managers (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality)

Hazards Addressed

• Decompression sickness due to unmanaged cumulative exposure and inadequate tracking of dive profiles
• Barotrauma and other pressure-related injuries linked to inappropriate task allocation or dive planning
• Fatigue and overwork from excessive dive frequency or duration not captured in personal records
• Medical emergencies arising from allowing divers to work without current fitness-to-dive assessments
• Inadequate emergency response due to missing or incomplete records of previous incidents and near misses
• Regulatory non-compliance and enforcement action resulting from poor documentation of diving activities
• Misallocation of high-risk tasks to divers without the necessary qualifications or experience

Included Sections

• 1.0 Purpose and Scope
• 2.0 Definitions and Abbreviations
• 3.0 Roles and Responsibilities (Divers, Dive Supervisors, WHS Personnel, Administrators)
• 4.0 Types of Personal Diving Records (Dive Logs, Medicals, Training, Competency, Incident History)
• 5.0 Pre-Dive Record Requirements and Verification
• 6.0 Information to be Recorded for Each Dive
• 7.0 Procedures for Updating and Validating Personal Dive Logs
• 8.0 Management of Medical Fitness-to-Dive and Health Surveillance Records
• 9.0 Training, Competency and Certification Record Management
• 10.0 Integration with Dive Planning, Risk Assessment and Permit-to-Work Systems
• 11.0 Data Storage, Privacy, Security and Access Controls
• 12.0 Record Retention, Archiving and Disposal Requirements
• 13.0 Audit, Review and Continuous Improvement of Diving Records
• 14.0 Incident, Near Miss and Non-conformance Recording and Follow-up
• 15.0 Electronic Systems, Backups and Business Continuity for Diving Records
• 16.0 Documentation, Forms, Templates and Example Log Entries
• 17.0 References, Legislation and Applicable Standards

Legislation & References

• Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (Australia) – Part relating to Diving Work
• Safe Work Australia – Diving Work Code of Practice (where adopted by jurisdiction or used as guidance)
• AS/NZS 2299.1: Occupational diving operations – Standard operational practice
• AS/NZS ISO 45001: Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) – in relation to handling of personal and health information in dive records
• Relevant state and territory WHS Acts and Regulations (e.g. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW))