1) Prior to commencing diving operations, an employer shall ensure that –
a) a risk assessment and a hazard identification is conducted to identify the risks and hazards to the health and safety of any person taking part in a diving operation;
b) the personnel necessary for rendering assistance to a diver, as well as those members of the personnel who may be required in the case of an emergency, are on standby and that all equipment which may be required for use in the case of an emergency is ready for immediate use;
c) persons who have been trained to operate compression chambers take charge of such chambers and remain on duty while such chambers are in use and are available while diving operations are in progress;
d) a diver who participates in a dive is provided with all the necessary diving equipment in order to safeguard his or her health and safety;
e) a diver who participates in a dive is, according to his or her logbook, qualified to use the diving equipment concerned ;
f) all diving equipment used for any diving operation is checked and tested before use by the diving team so as to determine whether it is in good working order;
g) the maximum bottom time of a dive, the decompression schedule and the technique to be used in any diving operation are made known to and are understood by the diving team;
h) the diving team has systematically and thoroughly been informed and trained with regard to the procedures to be followed in the case of an emergency; and
i) when diving operations are undertaken, sufficient stored quantities of medical oxygen is available at the dive site so that an emergency may be dealt with effectively.
2) During the performance of diving operations, an employer shall ensure that –
a) good discipline is continuously maintained and that diving operations are carried out safely and strictly in accordance with the manner planned by the diving supervisor and that the bottom time and decompression schedule referred to in subregulation (1)(g) are strictly adhered to;
b) for each diving operation at least the persons as per Annexure D to these Regulations are present, together with the standby diver who shall be in immediate readiness to dive and whom shall remain on duty at the control point on the surface of the water during the diving operation: Provided that where two divers are in the water at the same time and near enough to each other to communicate with and render assistance to each other in an emergency, the one may be deemed to be a standby diver for the other
Provided further that where a diving bell is used, the standby diver (bellman) shall descend in the bell to the depth from which work is carried out and shall remain in the bell so as to be able to immediately render assistance to the diver working from the bell;
c) for any dive there is –
i) at least one person who is qualified and has a valid first aid certificate to render first-aid and who has a thorough knowledge of the first-aid treatment to be applied and the use of all equipment used in drowning, decompression sickness and other ailments associated with diving operations; and
ii) a person who is qualified as a life-support technician when saturation or closed bell dives are undertaken;
d) only in-date divers participate in diving;
e) no diver who on account of indisposition or physical or mental infirmity considers him or herself unfit to participate in diving, or who is considered unfitherefor by the diving supervisor, participates in any diving or is permitted or required to participate in any diving;
f) when scuba diving is performed, life-lines, buddy lines and surface markers are used, unless both the diving supervisor and the diver considers the use thereof hazardous or impracticable at the dive location, after which they may dispense with the use thereof: Provided that an underwater voice communication systems is then used, except in the case of the standby diver, when a life-line shall be used: Provided further that in the case of divers breathing gas mixtures containing helium a speech processing system shall be used;
g) a shot line is used when the diver is not lowered to the underwater working place by means of a diving bell, unless the use of a shot line is impracticable;
h) all voice communications must be recorded and the recordings must be kept for a period of at least fourty eight hours and be made available to an inspector for inspection purposes;
i) for diving at a depth exceeding fifty metres, a diving stage is used, except when a bell is provided: Provided that a bell shall be used for all diving operations at a depth exceeding seventy metres, except when a diver uses standard diving dress or dives in a physically confined space :
Provided further that a closed bell shall be used for all' diving operations at a depth exceeding one hundred metres;
j) no diver undertakes a dive –
i) in contravention of any condition or restriction imposed on him or her in terms of these Regulations; and
ii) unless he or she is fully conversant with such machinery and the use of such tools and equipment as may be required in the performance of his or her work at the underwater working place;
k) no diver undertakes a dive to a depth greater than that for which the equipment he or she is using is suitable;
l) no diver dives to a depth greater than that for which he or she is qualified:
Provided that a class 111 sueace-supplied nitrox diver, class 111 surface-supplied air diver, class IV scuba nitrox diver and class IV scuba air diver may undertake dives to a depth not exceeding fifty metres if the decompression time does not exceed twenty minutes;
m) no diver uses air or nitrox for any diving operation at a depth exceeding fifty metres, except where such use is for therapeutic or training purposes in a compression chamber;
n) for all diving modes, a sufficient supply of the appropriate breathing mixture is readily available at the required pressure to provide for all the activities of the diving team for the duration of the diving operation, excluding the divers' bail-out cylinder;
o) all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that air supplies to divers are pure and that such air complies with the requirements of the South African Bureau of Standards' Code of Practice for Portable Metal Containers for Compressed Gases No. 01 9-1 985;
p) where a diving operation is to be carried out at night –
i) a lamp or other device is attached to the diver to indicate his or her position when he or she is on the surface, and
ii) the place on the surface or the bell from which the diving is carried out, is illuminated :
Provided that where such illumination is undesirable, it may be switched off during the diving operation;
q) depth measuring devices must be used by all divers :
Provided that where surface-supplied diving equipment is used the depth of the diver must be monitored by pneumofathom meters from the surface;
r) a diving operations record is kept as contemplated in Annexure B to these Regulations and is completed within twenty four hours of completion of the diving operation, and is made available to an inspector on request and kept for a minimum of two years after the last entry;
s) every diver, within twenty four hours of completion of a dive, enters full particulars of the dive in his or her diver's logbook as contemplated in Annexure A to these Regulations and that the entry is signed by the diver and countersigned by the diving supervisor;
t) the appropriate warning signals are given and the appropriate signs are prominently displayed while diving is in progress;
u) a boat is kept readily available for rescue purposes if the possibility exists that the diver may surface away from the control point in the course of a dive; and
v) all other reasonable safety measures are taken which may be necessary for the safe execution of any particular diving operation and that the safety measures are strictly adhered to.