Occupational diving work needs to be planned as a specialist high-risk activity, not treated as an ordinary site task that happens underwater. Before anyone enters the water, the contractor and site team should confirm competence and medical fitness, assess the actual dive conditions, select suitable equipment and breathing gas arrangements, set decompression controls, and prepare rescue, first aid and emergency arrangements.
In Queensland, the Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice 2005 is an approved Code of Practice. It provides practical direction for occupational diving, including risk assessment, equipment, breathing gas, decompression, emergencies, training and records. Requirements vary across Australia, so always check current regulator material for the jurisdiction where the work will occur. A national Model Code, where relevant to another topic or jurisdiction, is general orientation and is not automatically the law everywhere.
Information current: 8 August 2026.
Main hazards in occupational diving
Diving risks change with the location, task, depth, plant and conditions. Common issues include:
- drowning, loss of air supply and failures in diver-to-surface communication
- decompression illness, barotrauma, fatigue, cold and other physiological stress
- currents, tides, poor visibility, depth, contaminated water and entrapment
- moving vessels, propellers, water intakes, cranes, rigging and suspended loads
- hazardous tools, electricity, cutting, welding or stored energy underwater
- marine life, difficult access and delayed emergency assistance
- poor coordination between divers, vessel crews, builders and other contractors.
The Queensland Code says occupational diving risk assessment must be undertaken by a competent person before the work. It identifies environmental, task-related, physiological, associated-activity and emergency-response factors for consideration. If the risk cannot be controlled to an acceptable level, the dive should not proceed.
What to sort out before work starts
Start with the scope: what the diver will do, where, at what depth, for how long, using which tools and from what platform. Confirm who controls the work area and how the dive team will coordinate with the principal contractor, vessel master, plant operators and nearby trades.
Check each diver's applicable competence, experience and current medical fitness. In Queensland, general diving work requires a current certificate of medical fitness to dive, and the work must stay within any limits on that certificate. The Code also states that proof of competency is required for occupational diving work.
The pre-start planning should normally settle:
- weather, current, tide, visibility, water quality and access conditions
- diver numbers, supervision, standby and rescue roles
- breathing gas, communications, tools, plant and equipment checks
- isolation of propellers, intakes, electrical sources and other hazardous energy
- dive profile, ascent, decompression and post-dive monitoring arrangements
- exclusion zones, vessel controls, flags, lights and surface watch
- communications with emergency services and the route to suitable medical care.
What good controls and documents usually cover
A practical diving system should connect the risk assessment to the way the job is actually run. Depending on the work, the document set commonly includes a dive plan, task risk assessment, diving operations manual, site or task procedure, equipment checks, emergency plan, training records, dive safety log and each diver's own log.
The written emergency plan should be readily available and understood by relevant workers. The Queensland Code identifies first aid, diver rescue, evacuation to the nearest recompression facility and missing-person response as situations to cover. Rescue equipment and trained rescuers should be ready for the actual site, with communications that allow action without delay. Suitable first aid and oxygen provision also need to be available at the dive site.
Controls should be communicated before diving begins. Site and task briefings, practical rescue drills and clear stop-work triggers help turn the plan into reliable action. Dive records then support decompression management, review and learning.
When a SWMS commonly applies
A SWMS commonly applies when the diving task forms part of high risk construction work under the rules for the relevant jurisdiction. This may arise where construction work is carried out in or near water with a drowning risk, or where other high risk construction work categories are involved.
The SWMS should address the construction work and its high-risk interfaces. It may sit alongside the specialist dive plan, risk assessment, operations manual and emergency plan rather than trying to replace them. Check the exact local definition and SWMS requirements before mobilisation.
Warning signs to act on
Pause the work if conditions differ from the plan, visibility or current deteriorates, communications are unreliable, an isolation cannot be confirmed, a diver is unwell or fatigued, oxygen or rescue equipment is unavailable, or the team is unclear about roles. Also stop and review after equipment failure, an incident, a near miss or a significant change to the work.
How Blue Safe can help
Blue Safe provides compliant WHS documents tailored to the client's activities, applicable Australian WHS/OHS requirements, jurisdiction and industry. Blue Safe guarantees the document compliance of the WHS documents it provides, including eligible customer documents after Blue Safe has reviewed and upgraded them.
For occupational diving and associated construction work, Blue Safe can help align the SWMS and supporting WHS documents with the real task, site interfaces and emergency arrangements. Customers actively put the compliant documents into practice through controls, consultation, training, actions, records and evidence.