Product Overview

Summary: This Technical Diving Protocols Safe Operating Procedure sets out clear, defensible requirements for planning and conducting technical dives in Australian workplaces. It provides a structured framework for managing complex underwater tasks, gas mixes, depth and decompression risks, ensuring divers return safely while your organisation meets its WHS obligations.

Technical diving in a workplace context – whether for inspection, maintenance, scientific research or construction – introduces significantly higher risk than standard recreational diving. Deeper depths, staged decompression, mixed gases, overhead environments and extended bottom times all demand a disciplined, documented approach to planning and execution. This Technical Diving Protocols Safe Operating Procedure provides that structure, translating recognised best practice and Australian WHS expectations into clear, step-by-step requirements your teams can follow in the field.

The SOP covers the full lifecycle of a technical dive, from initial task analysis and dive planning through to pre-dive checks, in-water conduct, decompression management and post-dive review. It embeds formal risk assessment, gas management rules, emergency and bailout planning, and communication protocols between surface support and divers. By standardising how technical dives are authorised, conducted and recorded, this document helps organisations reduce the likelihood of serious incidents, demonstrate due diligence to regulators, and provide consistent training material for new and existing dive personnel across Australia’s maritime, aquaculture, defence-support, infrastructure and scientific sectors.

Key Benefits

• Reduce the risk of decompression illness, oxygen toxicity and other dive-related injuries through structured planning and control measures.
• Ensure technical diving operations are conducted in line with Australian WHS legislation and recognised commercial diving practices.
• Standardise dive planning, pre-dive checks and in-water protocols across all technical dive teams and worksites.
• Improve emergency readiness with clearly defined bailout, lost-diver, entanglement and out-of-gas response procedures.
• Enhance documentation and traceability of dives, supporting audits, incident investigations and continuous improvement.

Who is this for?

• Dive Safety Officers
• Commercial Diving Supervisors
• Technical Dive Team Leaders
• Occupational Divers
• Scientific Divers
• Underwater Construction Supervisors
• WHS Managers in Marine and Offshore Operations
• Emergency Response and Rescue Team Leaders
• Ports and Harbour Operations Managers
• Aquaculture Operations Managers

Hazards Addressed

• Decompression sickness (DCS) and decompression illness (DCI)
• Nitrogen narcosis at depth
• Oxygen toxicity (CNS and pulmonary)
• Gas contamination and incorrect gas mix usage
• Running out of breathing gas or inadequate gas reserves
• Equipment failure of regulators, valves, manifolds and buoyancy systems
• Rebreather malfunction, including hypoxia, hyperoxia and hypercapnia
• Barotrauma to ears, sinuses and lungs
• Entrapment, entanglement and overhead environment hazards
• Loss of visibility and disorientation
• Thermal stress, hypothermia and heat stress
• Strong currents, surge and adverse sea conditions
• Boat traffic and vessel strike
• Manual handling injuries when moving dive cylinders and equipment
• Psychological stress and task-loading leading to poor decision-making

Included Sections

• 1.0 Purpose and Scope
• 2.0 Definitions and Terminology (Technical Diving Context)
• 3.0 Roles, Responsibilities and Competency Requirements
• 4.0 Applicable Legislation, Standards and Organisational Policies
• 5.0 Risk Management for Technical Diving Operations
• 6.0 Dive Planning Requirements (Depth, Time, Task and Environment)
• 7.0 Gas Management and Mixed-Gas Protocols
• 8.0 Equipment Requirements, Configuration and Pre-Dive Checks
• 9.0 Rebreather-Specific Procedures (If Applicable)
• 10.0 Pre-Dive Briefing and Authorisation to Dive
• 11.0 In-Water Operating Procedures and Communication Protocols
• 12.0 Decompression Planning and Execution
• 13.0 Emergency and Contingency Procedures (Out-of-Gas, Lost Diver, Entanglement, Medical Emergency)
• 14.0 Surface Support, Standby Diver and Rescue Arrangements
• 15.0 Environmental and Weather Condition Assessment
• 16.0 Post-Dive Procedures, Debrief and Documentation
• 17.0 Equipment Cleaning, Maintenance and Cylinder Handling
• 18.0 Training, Induction and Competency Verification
• 19.0 Incident Reporting, Investigation and Continuous Improvement
• 20.0 Review, Audit and Document Control

Legislation & References

• Model Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and equivalent state and territory WHS legislation
• Model Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 – Part 4.8 Diving Work
• Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: Managing Risks of Diving Work
• AS/NZS 2299.1: Occupational diving operations – Standard operational practice
• AS/NZS 2299.3: Occupational diving operations – Diving for scientific purposes
• AS/NZS 1715: Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment
• AS/NZS 2299.2: Occupational diving operations – Scientific diving (where applicable)
• ISO 24801 / ISO 24802 series – Recreational diving services (as reference for competency baselines where relevant)