Many commercial divers in Singapore untrained

Safety standards low as they do not have professional certification
Jermyn Chow & Carolyn Quek, Straits Times 2 Oct 08;

MR CHRIS Kyaw Naing Oo has been diving underwater since 2006 to weld metal and clean the hulls of ships for a living.

But the only diving qualification that the 24-year-old Myanmar national has is an open-water certificate, like any beginner leisure diver.

The basic scuba-diving course seems to be the minimum - and possibly inadequate - requirement for commercial divers who work in Singapore waters using heavy equipment.

It also appears that the four divers who were hurt or killed in two separate accidents over the past two months had only recreational diving certificates.

In the second of the two incidents, commercial diver Mohammed Borhan Jamal, 26, went missing on Sept 9 while he was underwater repairing a ship at the Eastern Petroleum A Anchorage. His body was washed ashore near Batam 12 days later.

Several weeks before, three commercial divers were hurt off Marina South Pier when the propeller of an oil tanker kicked into life while they were cleaning it.

According to industry watchers, there are about 30 marine contractors in Singapore hiring more than 100 divers between them. Most are small companies with a handful of divers, but a few are bigger outfits with more advanced diving gear for more complicated jobs.

Their work ranges from cleaning the hulls of ships to salvaging sunken vessels.

Unlike countries such as Britain and Canada, there is no requirement here for commercial divers to be professionally certified. Though some do shell out for professional training, most do not.

At present, there is a code of practice rolled out in 2005 by national standards body Spring Singapore. Dive companies are not legally bound to follow the code, but may find themselves answering tough questions in court if they are investigated for negligence in an accident.

The 60-page document sets out safety guidelines for working divers and the equipment they carry. It stipulates that a diver should 'have training and experience in diving commensurate with the required diving mode and diving operation', but does not give specifics.

Most companies assume that their divers will learn the bulk of their skills on the job, they told The Straits Times.

'They follow the senior divers underwater to help as assistants and observe the best work and safety practices for about three to six months before doing the jobs themselves,' said Mr Edwin Yeo, a dive superintendent in a global water and environmental engineering consultancy based here.

Is this good enough? No, said safety experts.

Many have called for a review of the code, pointing to the 'vague' and 'loosely worded' guidelines.

Mr Charles Rowe, a maritime consultant and experienced commercial diver, says that commercial diving training should be mandatory. 'Underwater technology is a well-paying profession and takes years of training, but not in Singapore,' said the 58-year-old American.

Singapore-based safety consultant Darren Brunton rates the country's safety standards in the marine industry 'Third World at best'.

'How can a recreational diver who is trained in five days do the work of a commercial diver?' the 47-year-old Briton and Singapore permanent resident mused.

The consultant for petrochemical companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil said commercial divers should be put through more formal and stringent training like in Britain.

There, trainees go through a 13-week course that teaches them how to dive safely with a load of about 40kg, wearing a full-face mask, and emergency air cylinder, and tethered to a pipe supplying air to them. They learn how to communicate with a supervisor on board a vessel and be towed to the surface on a safety line.

Such overseas courses also teach first aid, basic welding and the use of underwater tools. But they can cost as much as $33,000, which local dive companies say is too much.

'Such training is a good-to-have, not a must-have. It does not make economic sense to send our divers for such expensive courses when most of their work just requires them to dive about 15 to 20m underwater to do basic maintenance work,' said the operations director of a local commercial diving company who declined to be named.

Mr Brunton's other grouse: Local dive companies do not require their divers to use a full-face mask with a communications device connecting him to his colleagues in and out of the water. The former instructor with the British military diving school said: 'They are taking a gamble with their lives in Singapore's choppy and murky waters if they do so without proper risk assessment and diving plans.'

Commercial divers say visibility in local waters ranges from as low as 30cm to 2m at best. Some told The Straits Times that they do without specialised gear because it can be heavy and cumbersome, and slows down the work.

Another sticking point is the number of people which should be deployed on a job.

The code of practice says that for every diver who goes beyond 20m underwater, a supervisor, stand-in, attendant and the stand-in's attendant should be present.

In practice, the lack of manpower and the need to save costs mean that divers have to double up on jobs.

A 28-year-old commercial diver, who did not want to be named, said that some companies send only one diver down for small-scale jobs, instead of at least two to buddy up.

While most divers did not feel they were in danger, most agreed that more could be done to make diving safer here.

As Mr Rowe puts it: 'Fatalities should not be happening. It shows how complacent the industry has become.'