The Annual 2012 Diving Screensaver and printable MCM Diving Calendar is now available via the authors photo website (DougElsey.com). 

This one is a bit different in that it has a real-time clock and calendar going on with it as well as the photo’s from this years Deep Divex and other MCM images. The photos were processed in in such a way as to be gritty … just like the barnacles that these tough military divers are.  Thanks to Cobham for once more being the major push on this project as well as the other sponsors. Without them - I’d need a VERY long lens to get the images. (Editor: Doug Elsey is the webmaster of this site as well as being a professional adventure photographer - amongst other things.)

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has released a new video on Dive Safety around dams. Check it out. Also see the Guidelines on working around Delta P situations also on this site. Click here to be directed to Guidelines.

MONTREAL —Quebec’s labour minister said it’s “unimaginable”that wildcat strikers would cut off the air supply to two construction divers on a worksite north of Montreal on Monday.
The divers in Trois-Rivieres,Que.,about 140 km north of Montreal,were shaken but unharmed when a roving group of union delegates forcibly shut down the waterfront worksite.
The revelations were made Thursday in Quebec City during legislative hearings for proposed union reform legislation,called Bill-33.
Patrick Daigneault,president of the construction union representing the divers,told Labour Minister Lise Theriault that delegates from a larger union demanded the waterfront site be shut down the moment they arrived on Monday.
When workers refused,one of the delegates shut down a generator,which supplied electricity to radios,lights,and an air compressor that fed air to the underwater divers.
The two divers used their emergency air supplies to resurface safely. Eric St-Onge,a member of the diving team who was on shore when the generator was shut off,told QMI Agency union reps threatened him.
“I told them that there could have been an incident,or something serious,like a death,”he said. “They told me that I could also be involved in an accident.”
The company running the worksite,Maskimo Construction,has not pressed charges.
Calls to Maskimo on Friday were not returned.
Quebec’s two biggest construction unions called for wildcat strikers to return to work Wednesday after three tense days that included sabotage,vandalism and threats.
The two unions,the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL) and the CPQMC union,represent 70% of construction workers in the province.
They are fighting Bill-33,which strips them of their power to decide which and how many workers are assigned to construction sites.
The government argues the two larger unions use this right to intimidate workers who are part of smaller unions by banning them from certain construction sites.
The smaller unions,which collectively represent 30% of Quebec construction workers,favour the bill. Meanwhile,the QFL said Monday’s situation was a misunderstanding.
“The version of the incident that I heard,is that one of the workers,in a moment of confusion,stopped the generator,”a spokesperson for the QFL said.
“If they shut down the generator on purpose,then that is unacceptable.”

OSHA has cited Trenton, N.J.-based IEW Construction Group Inc. for 12 commercial diving and other serious safety violations found while the company was doing repair work on the Alexander Road Bridge in Princeton, N.J. OSHA initiated an investigation under its National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation and a Local Emphasis Program on Bridge and Tunnel Construction. Proposed penalties total $83,160.

Canadian Working Divers Institute is moving to a superior facility near Chapleau Ontario. (see http://www.chapleaulodge.com/ )

Gord Hay – course director – said, “The first year of operation was in 1993 on Catchacoma Lake in Buckhorn Ontario, Canada. Eight years ago the only other college training commercial divers in Canada was Seneca. We ran 3 courses that year and were accredited by the National Energy Board, switching to two courses per year the following season. We have run 37 Unrestricted Surface-Supplied courses, and trained over 400 divers so far from 23 countries.”

Running 12 hours per day, 6 to 7 days per week, the 12 week program has very little time for diversions. If you can’t do it here, you can’t do it offshore! The diving barges are moored close to the classroom, lounge, shops, offices, galley and living facilities. We have 200 feet of water, 600 meters from the College. There is road access to the new facility, which is a big change however it is still quite isolated. There will be only one course offered per year, with 30 seats and we will still maintain our 5/1 student/teacher ratio.

We are a private corporation with a goal of maintaining the best entry-level commercial diver training facility in the world. Training to and exceeding the “Canadian Standards Association’s Z275.5 Diver Training Guidelines” being the highest standards in the world, gave us a good start.”

For more information contact Gord Hay at “info@canadianworkingdivers.com”

CADC is about to publish the NEW Spring/Summer issue of the CADC magazine.

This issue features –

• ·        Delta P hazards – Diving around Dams and other Delta P situations
• ·        Underwater UEX0 – answering questions and telling about the program – how YOU can benefit and train.
• ·        How to survive a site visit (from an government inspector)
• ·        The Divers Tool Box – The toolbox talk – what it means and why it is important.
• ·        How to hire the professional dive contractor.
• ·        AND LOTS more …….

 In order to get it to you by mail, we need (of course) to know your mailing address.

 Could you take the time NOW to go to

 http://www.cadc.ca/blog/cadc-magazine-signup-free/

 and fill in information, number of copies desired etc. The copies will be sent out to you when the mag is published mid June. Indicate the number of copies that you would like be sent to you.

CADC will not be sending out hard copies after the initial sendout (cost and time is the reason). So – get your request in NOW.

Holland College is pleased to announce that it plans to offer a new 2-week training course for commercial divers in Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO) Diving, starting later this year. This UXO Diving course will meet the requirements of the new CSA Standard Z275.6, UXO Diving, and allow Canadian diving contractors to qualify for future business under the DND UXO and Legacy Sites Program.

Development of the new UXO Diving course curriculum by Holland College is complete and preparations for program approval and accreditation by the appropriate authorities are underway. The training course - which will be available to certified divers, tenders and supervisors - will include classroom and practical instruction in UXO underwater search and disposal techniques, UXO identification and hazard assessment, theory and use of explosives underwater, and coordination of marine operations during UXO operations.

The UXO Diving course will be held at the Holland College Marine Training Centre, Summerside, PEI. This location offers excellent training facilities and the proximity to the UNB Fredericton campus will permit UXO Diving training to be coordinated with other Z275.6 training requirements for surface/ terrestrial UXO.
The first UXO Diving courses are anticipated to run in fall 2011/spring 2012. Specific dates will be promulgated in due course.

To register interest in the UXO Diving training course (and to ensure that you receive future details direct) please contact Holland College Marine Training Centre - telephone 1-902-888-6485, email lmfinkle@hollandcollege.com or smacfarlane@hollandcollege.com.

About Holland College:

Holland College is the community college for the province of Prince Edward Island. It has numerous centres across PEI offering a wide variety of post-secondary training.
The Marine Training Centre in Summerside has been providing Government-approved vocational training for more than three decades. The centre has earned an international reputation for its exceptional quality of instruction, excellent facilities and convenient location.
The Holland College Commercial Diving program is accredited by the Diver Certification Board of Canada (DCBC), the nationally and internationally-recognized certifying agency for the professional diving industry in North America.

The RCMP is investigating the death of a diver off the coast of southwestern New Brunswick. The RCMP said it's believed the 56-year-old Deer Island man drowned, but the exact cause of death is still under investigation.The police received a call after 4 p.m. on Thursday from other divers saying that a diver was in distress.The victim was looking for sea urchins with four other commercial divers when the group lost sight of him.

The DND UXO and Legacy Sites Program will be hosting its second annual Contractor Conference on March 10, 2011 at the Rideau Canal Jr. Ranks Mess (4 Queen Elizabeth Dr.) in Ottawa, Ontario. This event will allow for the presentation of future business as well as provide individual timeslots to all contractors for discussion.

An agenda and additional details will follow.

Contact: UXOCanada@forces.gc.ca