Canadian Occupational Safety

13 2019 FEBRUARY/MARCH working in cold water. They wear heavy dry suits with thick under- wear, but if the suit leaks, a diver can get cold pretty quickly. Korol says as soon as divers feel shivering coming on, they need to get out of the water and warm up. "Unfortunately, because divers tend to be a little bit on the macho side, a lot of them will push through that until it's too late, until it becomes the point where they are almost incapaci- tated under water because they don't want to admit they're getting cold," Korol says. Sometimes divers are put in a big, over-sized wetsuit that has hot water pumped into it. "It's great for the diver. It's like they're working in a bit of a hot tub. It's very comfortable — until the hot water machine fails and they get immediately cold and they have to get out of the water immediately," Korol says. The top-side crew — individuals who stay above water to assist with the dive — can be very helpful in determining if the diver is experienc- ing cold stress. As they are in constant communication with the diver (who has a communication device built in to her helmet), they should be listen- ing for chattering teeth or irritation. "They have to listen. They have to hear things starting to develop with the guy underneath," says John Pegg, owner/program co-ordinator for Canadian Working Divers Institute in Chapleau, Ont. "If he's usually pretty even-keeled and he is getting frus- trated on the bottom, there's a level of discomfort there for some reason." CONTAMINATION HAZARDS Before a dive begins, the site needs to be assessed for potential contamina- tion hazards. Whether they are diving in a marina, nuclear power plant or effluent ponds, an industrial hygienist should be called in to take a sample of liquid and identify the various hazards. "You have to know what you're diving into and take precautions against that," says Griffin. "Whether it's chemical contamination, biologi- cal contamination, especially in the old harbours where they dump raw sewage into the water, you don't want to be diving into that without special procedures and equipment." If the water is highly contaminated, the diver would be required to wear a helmet that is mated and sealed directly to a rubber suit, so she is completely encapsulated from the environment. The helmet is flooded with a positive pressure of air, so water can't leak back in on the diver. The biggest concern is biologi- cal contaminants, which used to be ignored in the olden days of diving, says Korol, explaining that was just about 30 years ago. "Now we are realizing that in the water, there's e-coli and listeria and all kinds of nasty little bugs that if we're diving on scuba, those things get in our ears, our eyes, mouth and nose." In addition to having the right equipment, the dive crew should have neutralizing agents for the hazard available. For example, if it's an acidic environment, they would have a bath of sodium bicarbonate to neutralize the acid, or if it's biological, they will have a disinfectant that can be used. When the diver comes out of the contaminated water, the top- side crew will follow procedures to decontaminate him before he can remove the dive suit. Anything that enters the contaminated environment has to be cleaned, washed and inspected, says Pegg. PRE-DIVE CHECKS To get ahead of all these hazards, comprehensive hazard assessments and pre-dive checks are crucial. The location, water depth, water condi- tion and visibility are just some of the factors that need to be assessed before a job begins. The weather conditions can also have a big impact on the dive and the gear required. "We've had situations where a diver was climbing up a wharf out of the water and was frozen to the ladder," Griffin says. "We had to pour coffee on his hands to be able to get him out. It's like sticking your tongue on a fence post in the winter." Aside from looking for the hazards, Pegg recommends looking at past job history at the site. "It's something that's not very com- monly heard but that I believe strongly in: If I have not done it before, I am going to get a hold of people. Com- munication with other companies or workers who have done this type of work and what they encountered as any problems." The remoteness of a job needs to be taken into consideration in case an injury occurs. Griffin was recently doing a job in the arctic and his crew members were the most qualified people in 1,000 miles. "We had to make sure that we had everything with us because we were totally on our own if anything went weird. That means advanced medical equipment, advanced medical train- ing and that kind of thing because we would be 15 hours from anybody if something went sideways," he says. All commercial divers have to be trained to the CSA Z275.4 Compe- tency Standard for Diving Operations and certified through the Diver Cer- tification Board of Canada. Through this education, they are trained on the medical conditions and physi- ological problems that could occur due to diving, as well as dive accident management. They are also required to hold current first aid, CPR, AED and oxygen provider certificates. It's important to have an emergency evacuation plan in place, says Korol. The plan should outline how to get an injured diver out of the water, onto the vessel safely and transported to the hospital. Before the dive, it should be confirmed that breathing gas quanti- ties and back up supplies are adequate and first-aid kits are readily available. All divers must wear a scuba bottle on their back, which acts as their emer- gency air supply. "We never say, 'Well, if we have an accident.' It's 'When we have the diving accident,' so it puts everybody in the frame of mind that yes it's going to happen one day and we're going to have to deal with it. And then you're prepared better," he says. In offshore and very remote areas, more and more employers will have a diver medic technician (DMT) as part of the crew — someone who has even more advanced medical training than a standard diver. A DMT is crucial for saturation diving, where the diver works at depths of over 500 feet and spends weeks living in a pressurized environ- ment on a ship or a barge. "If you have a problem in there, then you can't call the doctors. You're in there and you can't come out. You need to have a guy in there with you who is trained to help you," says Pegg. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS All divers are required to pass a com- prehensive medical exam before they can get their commercial diving license. They must be seen by a physi- cian who is knowledgeable in diving medicine, and their medical fitness must be evaluated annually or every two years (depending on age and juris- diction). The most important body system for divers is the cardiovascular system — they need to have a good heart and lungs, says Korol. "We're doing something that has a lot of exertion involved with it," he says. "We're climbing out of water wearing sometimes 150 pounds of equipment, so you've got to be physi- cally capable and strong and having stamina when you're under water doing a repetitive task. Maybe you're sawing something under water or moving sandbags." The use of prescription medica- tions, recreational drug and alcohol use, obesity, lack of physical condi- tioning and smoking can also affect safety while diving. It is not safe for individuals with diabetes, heart disease or coronary artery disease to dive due to their respective risks of suddenly losing consciousness, having a heart attack or experiencing decreased blood flow to the heart. Asthma and high cho- lesterol are other medical conditions that can affect an individual's ability to dive safely. It's not just health issues that need to be considered for divers, it's mental health as well. Korol tells his students that diving is 50 per cent psychological. "When we get into certain areas, a diver can really work themselves up into a panic. It's like when you're at the lake in the summertime and you go for an evening dip and you feel a weed touch your leg and your mind starts going. A diver can psych them- selves out pretty quickly and easily." There's no formal psychological assessment required for divers, but doctors will now interview the appli- cants and ask why they want to go into the profession. If they have a thrill- seeker personality, are prone to taking unacceptable risks, are upset easily or are panicky and jittery, they are not best suited to the job. "We want people who are calm, cool and collected… Somebody who doesn't rattle easily, is cool headed and can problem-solve on the fly," Korol says. The culture of safety in the commer- cial diving industry in Canada varies province to province, says Griffin. "What's happening in some of the provinces in the East Coast, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is as far as I am concerned a national embarrass- ment. Quebec is excellent, Ontario is excellent, best regulations going, B.C. is catching up, Western provinces are still kind of the Wild West, but they're all getting there little by little," he says. "Unfortunately, what it takes is acci- dents to draw attention to it, and that's been the problem." All commercial diving outfits and independent divers need to be up to speed on health and safety legisla- tion in their respective jurisdictions, because their lives depend on it. "It's getting through to the old-tim- ers out there that the regulations are written in blood," says Korol. "There's a reason for these regulations and standards and it's because people died not following them." COS If he's usually pretty even- keeled and he is getting frustrated on the bottom, there's a level of discomfort there for some reason.

• Cover