Published on 10/23/2005

CADC president John McFadzen's paper presented at the annual Canadian Dam Assocation meeting in Calgary last month talked about those dam divers that work for the dam engineers. Read the full text of the paper by following the link.

A few weeks ago our executive director asked me what I was going to speak about here today. My response, as usual, was, oh do I have to speak? A few words would be nice was his reply.

I decided that since the theme of this conference is Dams and the title of my paper is Dam Divers, I would speak about the Dam, Dam Divers and how their professionalism has evolved over the years.

Now let me start by saying, that, in my experience, Dam Divers work on dams with Dam Engineers.

And I think it is fair to say, that the mutual respect between divers and engineers is proportional to the success of the job and has a direct relationship with the reverence implied when using the word Dam.

Personally, I have been fortunate, to have worked with some of the finest Professional Engineers and Professional Divers in this country. I haven’t seen it all but what I haven’t seen I’ve been told and if you know anything about divers, you know, what I’ve been told has got to be true.

I tell our divers, that there is a fine line between being a hero and an asshole in this business. When you are sitting on deck, shivering and dripping wet after a dive where everything fell into place, and the client walks over to you and says, “Great Job”. Take it in stride, stay cool.

The next time you do the same job, things could be very different. The current may be running hard, the visibility could be zero or you may be fifty feet deeper. The client sees the same job, he sees the same sorry ass sitting on a wooden box and wonders why he has to pay for another day.

Typical and routine are words I try to avoid.

Here is an example of what I mean by a routine job with two completely different outcomes.

Problem: Head gate maintenance requires dewatering upstream.

Solution: Install stop-logs , dewater and seal.

Procedure: Plant operators request an outage from central control,

That all happened on Tuesday, now it’s Friday.

Same Problem, Same Plant, Different Unit, Same Proposed Solution, Same Procedure. Routine!

This time, everything goes according to plan, until plant maintenance tries to pull the stop logs. Equalization of the differential is complicated by an electrical failure of the head gate. Estimated 48 hours to repair the electrical problem so a decision is made to have the diver cut a hole in the stop logs to facilitate equalization. Standing on the bottom he cuts a hole about 6 inches in diameter through the stop log.

Water depth, 90 feet. Differential Pressure across the hole is approx. 1100 lbs.

Estimated time to equalize is about 6 hours. The Diver is asked to cut a second hole to increase water flow. As the diver finishes the second hole, his cutting rod is down to a short stub, placing his hand closer to the hole and as the cut plate releases, his arm is pulled into the hole, his glove is pulled off at the same time flooding his suit with cold water.

As hyperthermia sets in, the standby diver is jumped to attempt a rescue, he puts his arms around diver #1 and attempts to pull him off. Diver # 2 inadvertently puts his foot over the first hole and his leg is pulled into that suction trap.

Two bodies are recovered.

I didn’t make this up. It’s based on a true story.

Nearly every clause in a regulated industry has a story to tell. Diving Regulations are no exception. Unfortunately there is little or no forgiveness when things go wrong underwater so the stories tend to be very dramatic.

These true stories are a part of our industry heritage. That heritage, forms the building blocks of the CSA standards, that apply to diving. The CSA standards for diving are listed with the National Standards Council of Canada and are called up as regulations in most Canadian Jurisdictions.

They include:

CSA Z 275.2 Occupational Safety Code For Diving Operations.

Minimum Crew Size
Restrictions on Scuba
Equipment Requirements
Supervision
Paperwork
Etc.

CSA Z275.4 Diver and Dive Crew Competency

§ Refers to:The Competency Required for all Personnel

CSA Z275.1 Chamber Standards

CSA Z 180.1 Compressed Breathing Air Systems

Refers to: Minimum Allowable Limits of Contaminates in Breathing Air.

· Minimum Compressor Requirements.

CSA Z 275.5 Occupational Diver Training Programs and Facilities.

As you can see, we are one of the most heavily regulated trades in Canadian Industry.

And we like it!

These standards were written over a thirty year period by stakeholders from the industry. Those stakeholders, used the unfortunate circumstances of others, ( the stories I referred to earlier ), to draft safe work practices for Occupational Divers.

The kind folks at CSA provided the continuity that helped the stakeholders visualize and entrench habits that would become the new behavior.

Simply put, Today’s occupational divers are enabled by the experiences of the past.

No matter where we fit in to the plan, be it, Diver, Diving Contractor, Educator, Employer of Diving Services or Compliance Officer, our responsibility is clear. We must be diligent to a fault, to avoid becoming a player in an untold story!

Thank you

John Mc Fadzen

President, Canadian Association of Diving Contractors