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The Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) is the Australian national occupational diver certification scheme.  It was developed by the Australian Government as a not-for-profit diver training and accreditation scheme operating at the level of world best practice.  It is administered on a cost-recovery basis by the ADAS Board under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. 

International recognition

ADAS is a member of the International Diving Regulators' Forum and has formal recognition arrangements with a number of countries that ensure that the ADAS Certificate of Competency is recognised as equivalent to the national diving qualifications of that country.  This ensures that occupational diving may be undertaken in that country's jurisdiction on the ADAS certificate or by automatic cross-over to the national certification.

Certification

ADAS offers accreditation to divers who can establish that they have been assessed by an ADAS Diving Training Establishment as meeting the competency requirements of the relevant ADAS/AS 2815 Part(s).  This accreditation is only valid whilst diving operations are being undertaken in accordance with relevant legislation and operational standards and for a diver, whilst in possession of a current AS 2299 medical certificate certifying him or her fit to dive.

Accreditation of Diver Training Establishments

It particular, ADAS accredits diver training establishments (DTEs) to conduct the training and competence assessments of divers to the levels of the various Parts and to recommend their accreditation under the Scheme.  Accreditation as an ADAS DTE is conditional upon meeting demanding entry requirements and, thereafter, maintaining compliance with rigorous ongoing quality-assurance conditions.

Training Programs

ADAS training programs are designed specifically to conform with the requirements of the Australian Standard AS 2815 - Training and Certification of Occupational Divers.  This Standard was developed by the SF/17 industry Diving Committee of Standards Australia in conjunction with ADAS and overseas diver training authorities, expressly to define the minimum acceptable competency standards for the various levels of occupational divers.

ADAS has since developed comprehensive instruction and assessement guidelines that specify to  DTEs the exact detail of the courses and how they are to conduct them.

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What is the ADAS Board?

• delivers and continues to deliver its full range of diver certification functions;
• is conducted so that its administrative, operational, training, assessment and diver certification standards, policies, procedures and practices are, and remain, at the level of best practice and result in a standard of diver certification acceptable to the Department and that enables the maintenance of the ADAS international recognition agreements.

The ADAS Board Members

ADAS has negotiated formal reciprocal recognition agreements with the governments of UK, Canada and Norway and is currently negotiating recognition with a number of other countries.ADAS is committed to attaining and retaining its standards at the level of world best practice and to this end is a foundation member of the International Diving Regulators’ Forum.

The Forum members, comprised of those countries which have reciprocal recognition agreements on diver certification, have agreed to undertake regular peer reviews of their respective arrangements and to identify and implement best practice in diver training and assessment to harmonise cross-border diver training outside Europe.Forum members have also agreed to share best practice in order to maintain and improve safety in diver training and to facilitate reciprocal recognition of diver qualifications.

Within this context:

• recognition of ADAS certification for the UK and the UK North Sea has just recently again been confirmed;

• ADAS and Canada are presently in the process of reviewing each other’s arrangements preparatory to renewing our agreement.

• Discussions were recently conducted between ADAS and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and it was agreed that the two organisations should in the near future review and renew their reciprocal diving certification recognition agreements (which are now over 10 years old).

In practice, ADAS diver certification is already widely accepted throughout the world and ADAS divers seem to be working everywhere from Russia to the South China seas. The state of our international partnerships seem to be in a very healthy state indeed.

Some divers are required by law to have an ADAS certificate before they can enter the occupational diving workforce.  Others, however, are not legally obliged to have one.  Why should these divers spend the time, money and effort to gain an ADAS qualification?

• Provides the legally required entry qualification necessary to work in onshore construction diving, the offshore oil and gas industry and aquaculture diving in South Australia;

• For divers in diving sectors not subject to legal entry requirements – provides a credible qualification which is recognised all over Australia and internationally and that provides entry to occupational diving throughout the world.

• For all divers, provides a structured career path which allows the diver to enter the industry at the bottom as a rookie and progress through all aspects of active diving up to and including mixed gas and closed bell operations - with an exit path for those who don’t want to, or can’t, continue getting wet through graduation into supervising other divers and/or managing diving projects.

• Provides recognition and reward for the academic aspects of the diver’s efforts with vocational qualifications that can be used to gain credit towards further vocational, tertiary or post-tertiary study.

• For dive supervisors, the matter is even more critical, as they assume substantial responsibility and liability when they take on their role, especially in the present litigious environment where civil claims are being brought every day before the courts.  ADAS supervisor training and assessment is specifically designed to provide supervisors with the credible skills and knowledge with which to undertake their role, especially in the area of accident and emergency management, and equips them with with the  competencies necessary to minimise risks to their divers and themselves.

• For the employer/contractor, ensuring that all diving staff are ADAS qualified goes a long way to providing a credible means of demonstrating compliance with their legal duty of care. Under the law, employers must provide employees with any instruction and training necessary to ensure their health and safety.  ADAS’s externally validated and quality controlled operations, training and assessment and best practice standards is specifically developed to provide exactly this. Employers who are aware and concerned about their duties and responsibilities under the law will always, therefore, employ ADAS-certified divers.

• 3^rd party employers, (eg, a government water board letting a contract to a diving contractor) also have a duty of care under the law.  For them, ADAS provides a credible means of ensuring that a diving contractor is compliant with best practice and with the law and lessens or may even negate consequential liability for the 3rd party employer.  This means that 3rd part employers who are aware and concerned about their duties and responsibilities under the law will always specify that divers must be  ADAS-qualified in their tender documents

Becoming an ADAS Diver Trainer

Knowledge, skills and aptitudes of occupational diving instructors

• the theory and practice of occupational diving at the appropriate level
•  the theory and practice of occupational diving work as appropriate
• risk assessment, diver supervision and emergency management
•  effective program design and lesson planning, including acceptable subject weighting and prioritisation
•  the presentation of theory and practical subjects at the relevant level
• effective interaction with and management of trainees, including fault correction, disciplining and counselling
• appropriate role modelling
• ADAS competency assessments
• pre-dive briefing and post-dive debriefing.

ADAS training structure

• Subject Specialist InstructorsPersons who have specialist subject knowledge (e.g. first aid, diving medicine, equipment maintenance, welding and cutting) may be approved to teach such subjects according to specified conditions.
•  Assistant Diver Trainers (ADT).  As detailed below, ADTs may conduct training on specified subjects under the direct supervision of an ADAS DTAM.
• Diver Trainers (DT)DTs may undertake the training and assessment of all subjects at the level to which they are certified under the general supervision of an ADAS DTAM. They must conduct all training and assessment activities in keeping with the conditions detailed in the ADAS Requirements Manual.
• Diver Training and Assessment Managers (DTAM) Only DTAMs may conduct training and assessment activities and recommend divers for certification as ADAS divers. They must ensure that all training and assessment activities are conducted in keeping with the conditions detailed in the ADAS Requirements Manual.

More detail on requirements to become and ADAS Diver Trainer (DOC 56 K)

HSE

Diving at work covers a wide range of activities from deep saturation diving in support of the offshore oil and gas industry to recreational instruction by a professional instructor. The “diving industry” can be considered as a number of sectors where people need to go underwater to work. With the exception of the recreational sector, diving is primarily a method of getting to a work site that happens to be underwater.

These pages contain information that may be sector specific as well as that which is of interest to all those involved in diving at work.

Diving is considered to be a high hazard activity. In the 8 year period from 1996/97 to 2003/04 there were 24 fatal accidents. Many of these were members of the public undergoing recreational diving training with paid instructors. However, the risks can be significantly reduced by adhering to regulations and adopting established good practice.

HSE seeks a significant and sustained reduction in fatal and major accidents across all sectors of the diving industry. The following pages explain what HSE is doing to achieve this as well as providing access to a range of information about health and safety in the diving industry.

How we work

HSE is organised into a number of Directorates. The Hazardous Installations Directorate is the operational arm responsible for Major Hazards, including the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry.

HSE’s Diving Group is part of the Offshore Division of the Hazardous Installations Directorate, but the group deals with all diving at work activities – not just offshore.

HSE’s Policy Unit supports the Diving Group’s work through the formulation of policy and legislation.

Specialist Inspectors from the Diving Group deal with the industry on a day to day basis using a variety of methods. These include:-

• Inspection
• Investigation of accidents and incidents
• Enforcement of statutory requirements
• Provision of information, guidance and advice
• Attending industry and trade association events/shows
• Working with stakeholders to identify, develop and promote good practice
• Contributing to research & standards development

Contacts

HSE offices are organised into regions.  In the first instance most enquiries should be routed via Infoline.  Depending on the complexity of the query Infoline may transfer calls to a ‘lead’ within the sector or the appropriate Diving team within regional offices.

The Diving Operations Strategy Team is responsible for operational strategy and guidance on diving matters and is a focal point for operational diving policy and information for other government departments/agencies, industry and the general public - contact details for this team are as follows:

Offshore Division
Diving Operations Strategy Team
Rose Court
2 Southwark Bridge
London
SE1 9HS
Tel: 020 7717 6757
Fax: 020 7717 6911

Three Diving Inspection Teams look after the implementation of policy in the regions, contact details for these teams are as follows:

Southern Team

Health and Safety Executive
Offshore Division (Diving)
Ballard House
West Hoe Road
Plymouth
PL1 3BL
Tel: 01752 276313
Fax: 01752 226024

Covers: all English counties south of, and including: Greater London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Wales.

Central Team

Health and Safety Executive
Offshore Division (Diving)
Lakeside 500
Old Chapel Way
Norwich
NR7 0WQ
Tel: 01603 828013
Fax: 01603 828050

Covers: all English counties north of, and including: Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcester.

Northern Team

Health and Safety Executive
Offshore Division (Diving)
Lord Cullen House
Fraser Place
Aberdeen
AB25 3UB
Tel: 01224 252598
Fax: 01224 252525

Covers: all of Scotland

If you need information or have a complaint on operational diving matters you should contact the HSE Diving Inspection Team. 

Revitalising Health & Safety

The Government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) are committed to improving standards and reducing injuries and ill health arising from work activities.

In June 2000 the Revitalising Health and Safety (RHS) strategy was launched to raise the profile of health and safety at work.

The RHS strategy aims to achieve a number of challenging targets by 2010 including:

• Reduction in the number of working days lost due to accidents and ill health by 30%
• Reduction in the incidence of ill health by 20%
• Reduction in the number of accidents by 10%

Programme of Work

HSE’s continuing goals for the diving industry are:

• To secure a significant and sustained reduction in the number of fatal and major accidents across all sectors of the diving industry.
• To work with all sectors of the industry to reduce risks to the health and safety of those involved in diving at work activities.
• To encourage collaboration within and across all industry sectors (including “not at work” recreational diving) to develop and share best practice.

The Programme of Work for the Diving Group in 2004/05 includes a wide range of activities including:

• Inspections across all sectors of the diving industry
• Investigation of all reported accidents, incidents and complaints
• Raising awareness of health issues (including noise, manual handling and substances hazardous to health) during diving operations.
• Maintaining a high profile in the “recreational at work” diving sector by attendance at dive shows and participation in industry led working groups