Why don't commercial or SAT divers have an octo...?

[Robbyg]

I met the Son of one of my Fathers business partners in the 1980s, both of them were on a vacation trip with us. The guy was about 30 and while I cannot remember to many things about our conversations, I do remember that he had tons of cash and was spending it like he was a rich Arab Sheik.

I had heard he was an oil rig diver and did underwater welding. So I asked him about the Job and he said it was the most dangerous thing you could do. He explained that he Dived very deep often at night in shark infested water for long hours. Then he laughed and said but the Pay is excellent and If I can do this for 3-4 years I can retire for life. Then he started to murmur some stuff about dodging the Bends and some other stuff and then he kind of just went silent and changed topics.

About a year later my father told me he had retired due to a diving accident and that he had some kind of permanent disability. I suspect my Dad did not know the details or maybe he heard them but the medical Jargon went right over his head. Anyway my take away from that was that the Job was insanely dangerous at least back in the 1980's.
I suspect that it is not so bad today.

 

[Superlyte27]

I met the Son of one of my Fathers business partners in the 1980s, both of them were on a vacation trip with us. The guy was about 30 and while I cannot remember to many things about our conversations, I do remember that he had tons of cash and was spending it like he was a rich Arab Sheik.

I had heard he was an oil rig diver and did underwater welding. So I asked him about the Job and he said it was the most dangerous thing you could do. He explained that he Dived very deep often at night in shark infested water for long hours. Then he laughed and said but the Pay is excellent and If I can do this for 3-4 years I can retire for life. Then he started to murmur some stuff about dodging the Bends and some other stuff and then he kind of just went silent and changed topics.

About a year later my father told me he had retired due to a diving accident and that he had some kind of permanent disability. I suspect my Dad did not know the details or maybe he heard them but the medical Jargon went right over his head. Anyway my take away from that was that the Job was insanely dangerous at least back in the 1980's.
I suspect that it is not so bad today.

It is still dangerous. 10 of my friends have been killed as commercial divers.

 

[Robbyg]

It is still dangerous. 10 of my friends have been killed as commercial divers.

Wow
So is it a kind of Job that you stay in for just a short time or do people work in the industry for decades? Seems like doing this for too long becomes really risky.

 

[KevinNM]

Pfft, there’s 6 schools putting out 30 commercial divers per month

Any idea how many can actually get jobs?

 

[Superlyte27]

Any idea how many can actually get jobs?

Not many

 

[Akimbo]

Wow
So is it a kind of Job that you stay in for just a short time or do people work in the industry for decades? Seems like doing this for too long becomes really risky.

Depends on the type of diving and companies you work for. I know divers who have been working in sat over 15 years. Many that stay in the industry past their 40s migrate into supervising and management positions. No divers have been killed on my systems except for topside industrial-type accidents. One guy was crushed by a container that broke loose on deck, nothing to do with diving ops. Another guy was on chopper that went down.

Sat diving from DSVs have an amazing safety record. One terrible exception is the Infabco disgrace aboard the Wildrake. IMO, top management should have gone to jail. Wikipedia Wildrake diving accident.

The Byford Dolphin accident: Explosive Decompression in the extreme

The Iranian DSV Koosha 1 sank in the Persian Gulf, divers in saturation were lost along with some crew. Six Divers Trapped on Sea Bottom

Stolt Comex Seaway lost a bellman when explosive gas from a pipeline bubbled up and got into the open hatch of the bell.

There was a very near miss on the DSV Bibby Topaz: Umbilical severed at 80 meters in North Sea

The Stena Seaspread diving accident was another near miss.

Waage Drill II diving accident, not a DSV, but Oceaneering lost some guys from hyperthermia. They died in the deck chamber when the crew had gauges cross-connected incorrectly and accidently blew the chamber down too fast. Heat of compression raised the temperature too high and killed them.

Star Canopus diving accident in 1978 is another lost bell emergency

Daniel Boone didn't die but the Taylor toilet flushing accident was pretty bad.

US Navy:
This was one of the first sat diving deaths I can recall: Divers were lost in a chamber fire at the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit

This was the end of the US Navy Sealab habitat program: Berry Cannon & Sealab III, 50 years ago today

There may have been others that didn't come to mind as I wrote this. This may sound like a lot but it covers over 50 years.

 

[Wibble]

The Last Breath is an excellent film on Netflix. North Sea sat diver had his umbilical severed when the DSV's Dynamic Positioning System went offline. He lived and narrated the film.

Highly recommended.

 

[Robbyg]

Daniel Boone didn't die but the Taylor toilet flushing accident was pretty bad.

Yikes !!
This one scared the Bejesus out of me. You don't expect to be gutted on the toilet!
There are just way to many things that can go wrong when doing this kind of work and there are a hell of a lot easier ways to make a buck than doing this kind of job. I salute you Sir, your a lot braver man than me.

 

[Akimbo]

This one scared the Bejesus out of me. You don't expect to be gutted on the toilet!

That is virtually impossible today. Toilet seat covers and dump valves have been mechanically interlocked since this accident. Even before this accident, most systems had a valve inside the diver had to open before it could be dumped.

your a lot braver man than me.

It's all a matter of perspective. You would have to hold a gun to my head to make a lot of the tech dives described in this forum without a chamber on deck. I start thinking "why am I doing this for free" after about half an hour of decompression.

I have to admit, dropping out that bottom hatch of the bell has always been a rush for me. Except for the "green water breaking over the helipad" part, I always felt safer in sat than in Scuba.

 

[Searcaigh]

The formal responsibility varies a lot. In my experience

When I worked offshore as a Sat System operator back in the 80s it was my job to top up and maintain the bail out bottles, which were steel 15L if I recall correctly, using a Williams and James compressor on one of the DSVs.(Drive Performer).

The tanks were loaded inside the bell when it was disconnected from the Transfer Port,I just wrote the pressure on a piece of tape with the date on it and attached it to the tank when I finished filling it. This pressure would have been a hot pressure and probably not much more than 200 bar and the gas used was always 16/84 Heliox.