Supervisor Overview

Also see:

Offshore Supervisor, Onshore Supervisor , ATE's Delivering ADAS Courses , Course Outlines

Overview

Throughout the occupational diving industry, whether it be onshore or offshore construction, aquaculture, police or military diving operations, the Dive Supervisor has a well recognised role as the on-scene representative of the contractor & employer and is tasked with the safe and efficient conduct of the diving operation.

This role has grown in importance as the responsibility of employers to ensure safe workplaces has assumed a far more prominent role in society. 

To this end, the training and competence required of supervisors to ensure they can undertake the role demanded of them has become much more structured and demanding.

Employers have a broad duty of care under common law under the principle that ‘he who creates the risk must manage the risk’.  

• As part of their responsibilities under the OH&S legislation, employers must provide employees with appropriate information, instruction and training and supervision in the workplace by a competent person.

For example, in Australia, the occupational law provides that managers and supervisors are directly responsible for OHS within areas under their control. If they are in a position to influence the conduct of the organisation or those involved, the responsibility is extended to any area where a health and safety hazard exists.

• It is important to note that supervisors are deemed to act as a representative of the employer and therefore have the same legal OH&S responsibilities.

Competence of supervisors
As noted above, employers are required to provide for the supervision of their employees by a “competent” person.  In Australia, this competence is defined in the current Australian and New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2299.1 and further detailed in the training and competency standard for dive supervisors AS 2815.5. 

Under 2299.1, a supervisor is required to be:

a)    a diver (noting that he need not be medically fit to dive, provided that a level of fitness required for the responsibilities undertaken is maintained);
b)    trained in accordance with AS 2815.5 for supervision of the type of diving operation being conducted and holding a certificate to that effect;
c)    experienced in the diving techniques which may be used, and in the equipment and procedures used in the diving operations to be performed;
d)    appointed in writing by the diver’s employer to supervise diving operations;
e)    trained in first aid including the recognition and first aid management of diving related medical problems, and communicating findings to medical support.

AS 2815.5 details the competencies a supervisor must demonstrate in regard to:

• the role of the dive supervisor;
• implementing and monitoring occupational health and safety programs;
• diving physics, physiology and associated calculations;
• managing diving illnesses and medical emergencies;
• managing risk associated with dive operations
• planning dive operations
• conducting dive operations
• plant, equipment and maintenance procedures
• managing people
• supervising the use of tools in a dive operation
• supervising on-site chamber operations
• supervising wet bell diving operations

Role of the Dive Supervisor
The role of the dive supervisors is that assigned by the community to supervisors in general, but obviously tailored and applied in an occupational diving context.  The job of the dive supervisor is to ensure that the dive team’s designated work tasks are undertaken efficiently, effectively and safely by:

• planning – determining what needs to be done, by whom, by when to achieve the designated task safely and effectively;
• delegating – assigning work, responsibility, and authority;
• providing instructions – giving day-to-day assignments to people so they will do what is wanted, when it is wanted and in the manner it is wanted;
• obtaining cooperation – helping the dive team to work willingly and effectively as individuals and groups;
• problem solving – developing and implementing solutions to day-to-day supervisory problems;
• staffing – ensuring that a qualified person is selected for each task;
• training – teaching individuals and groups how to do their jobs efficiently, effectively and safely;
• motivating – determining and helping the dive team members to meet their personal needs for tangible and intangible compensation over both short and long range;
• counseling – meeting  with individuals and the dive team about how they might do their work better, solve a personal problem, or realize ambition;
• improving – developing better methods and procedures to ensure quality and increase effectiveness and safety;
• handling pressure – fulfilling responsibility in the face of emotional stress or pressing demands;
• controlling – measuring progress and taking corrective actions when needed to achieve objectives and to ensure the safety of the dive team.

Onshore versus Offshore Dive Supervision
In Australia, as elsewhere, Dive Supervisors are generally required to be specifically certified to undertake the supervision of offshore diving operations.  This is because the type of offshore operations and the context in which they are undertaken are often more complex than those performed onshore.  

Offshore operations generally use highly specialised and sophisticated tools and equipment, and perhaps more importantly, are often performed in conjunction with or alongside other ongoing operations related to the production of highly flammable hydrocarbons.  Such operations are subject to strict controls and procedures and demand specialised knowledge and experience on the part of the Dive Supervisor.

It is mainly experience in the context in which the diving operations are performed that differentiates between onshore and offshore diving supervision.

ADAS recognises this differentiation by providing separate qualifications for onshore and offshore supervisors.
Air versus Closed Bell Offshore Dive Supervisors

Offshore supervisors are further differentiated by whether they are qualified as Air or Closed Bell Supervisors.

• Air supervisors supervise surface supplied air diving operations to depths of 50 metres.  
• Closed Bell supervisors upervise mixed gas closed bell saturation diving operations and can also undertake the supervision of air diving operations.

Onshore Dive Supervisors
The Australian Standard AS 2815.5 creates 3 categories of onshore supervisor, depending on the occupational diving experience and needs of the diver:

• Dive Supervisor for Occupational Scuba diving;
• Dive Supervisor for non decompression Surface Supplied diving;
• Dive Supervisor for Unrestricted Surface Supplied diving.

The Difference between ADAS Onshore Supervisor and ADAS Offshore Supervisor Qualifications

 Some confusion has arisen in the past about the difference between ADAS Onshore Supervisor and ADAS Offshore Supervisor qualifications. ADAS Onshore Supervisors are NOT qualified to work as Offshore Supervisors.

Australia has two separate sectors of regulated diving -

(1) onshore and inshore construction diving which is regulated by the Australian state occupational health and safety authorities and

(2) offshore/inshore oil and gas diving which is regulated by a National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority under federal/state mirror legislation.

Under (1), divers are required to be supervised by trained and ADAS certified ONSHORE Supervisor. Onshore Supervsiors do not require offshore oil and gas diving experience and are qualified either as Occupational Scuba Supervisors or Surface supply Supervisor to 30m (Restricted SSBA) or Surface supply Supervisor to 50m (Unrestricted SSBA).

They are issued an ADAS (plastic card) Certificate of Competence which is quite clearly marked ONSHORE Supervisor. They are competent supervisors at the level to which they have been trained and certified but do not necessarily have offshore experience and are not certified by ADAS to supervise offshore operations. These Onshore Supervisor certificates are not recognised by IMCA for supervising offshore operations .

Note however, that Offshore supervisor certification meet the requirements for undertaking the supervision of onshore diving operations.

Under (2), divers must be supervised by trained and certified ADAS OFFSHORE Supervisors who must have complied with the ADAS/IMCA/DCBC agreed training and assessment regime. These supervisor must comply with the requirement to be experienced offshore commercial divers and have the requisite offshore supervisory and ALST panel hours etc. They will have ADAS plastic identity cards that quite clearly state that they are either ADAS Air or Bell OFFSHORE Supervisors. These certificates are recognised by IMCA and also under the Canadian system.

To make the matter more confusing for everyone, under the Australian national vocational and technical training system, successful graduates for Supervisor qualifications are awarded an (A4 sized paper) national Diploma in recognition of their academic achievement. These Diplomas have no legal significance. All ADAS Supervisor graduates are awarded with these Diplomas but as noted above, their legal certificate of competence is the ADAS plastic card.