Chapter One

THE DIVERS

	Many books and articles have been written about that near God forsaken piece of the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea. It lies to the east of the British Isles and its eastern boundaries from north to south are the coasts of Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. A brief return journey north through this valuable piece of marine real estate takes us from the bottle-neck of the Dover Straits in the south, up through the rich gas fields of the Leman Bank off Bacton in Norfolk, stretching on up to fields off Teeside, and continuing on up through a vast sea of empty space before reaching the great Forties Field off Aberdeen and Peterhead. Its multitude of neighbouring fields, from Clyde in the south to Harding to the north, can be clearly seen on a fine day with their oil and gas platforms standing starkly against the iron grey daylight sky, or the flickering candle-like gas flares turning night skies into day. On then past Orkney and the huge Frigg gas field and its smaller satellites, and ever further north to the East Shetland Basin and its huge conglomerate of gas and oilfields. And venturing yet further north beyond these where within the exceedingly hostile environment of the northern North Sea lies the Magnus oil field, and the ocean begins to widen eastwards to meet with the extensive expanse of the Norwegian Sea, reaching on up to the Arctic Circle where, commencing in November each year, the days will turn slowly into one long night for the full three months duration of the dark Arctic winter.
To the west of Shetland in the Faroes/Shetland Trough lie the Foinaven and Schiehallion fields in the UK's deepest exploited water to date, with the Clair oilfield, the largest undeveloped field in the North Sea, seemingly acting as buffer between them and Shetland. The North Sea is a huge expanse of deep, cold, and often stormy water extending to more than half a million square kilometres (over 200,000 square miles) and over 650 metres (2,100 feet) at its deepest, where fierce winter gales create mountainous, foaming and ever changing grey green to black, white topped seas, and where man, both above and below the water, goes precariously about the business of searching for and extracting the hydrocarbons which were formed millions of years ago far beneath the seabed of those icy waters, and which have been so vitally important to the United Kingdom of Great Britain's energy needs for our light, heat, and mobility over the last twenty five years, with the oil alone accounting for around one third of our energy consumption. Though we occasionally hear or read something of the durable, tenacious and resilient people who are gainfully employed in these waters, and diving films and books by the hundred on clear blue still water, coral reefs and multi-coloured fish are much in abundance, let us stop for a moment and consider the commercial realities rather than the leisure and recreational side of underwater life where, to my knowledge, nothing in detail has been written about the men who went to work beneath those dark, cold, and fast running deep waters, and lost their lives whilst doing so. The North Sea has been the United Kingdom's point of focus for oil and gas exploration and production since the mid 1960's, and the list of known diving fatalities in oil and gas operations in Northern Europe from that time to the end of the 20th century has been a most shocking 58 divers of various nationalities - all in the North Sea but for a few exceptions, and the majority of them British; but also Norwegian, American, French, Dutch and Italian. Brave, perceptive and resourceful men, and vitally important, indeed essential, to the success of the construction and ongoing maintenance of oil and gas installations, and the subsequent extraction of their products which vastly benefit the UK economy and the country's export figures as a whole. Leading precarious offshore lives aboard "petrol factories" and facing possible death on a daily basis, strong minded and individualistic, they generally worked as a single man unit underwater, but came together in a team when required in a way most people requiring team spirit amongst their employees would envy. These were men who were exceedingly optimistic about their lives, who thought their futures were assured, and all of whom challenged those underwater conditions for their livelihoods, only to lose those lives in the prime of their existence. As in war they were basically young men, most all with wives, children and girlfriends, and most certainly families, friends and relatives. Men whom I hope to ensure will never be forgotten for what they accomplished, the legacy they left us, and the fact that they were so very colourful, so much larger than life and, some of them, my friends and colleagues.
	That exceedingly courageous, resolute, good humoured, and somewhat eccentric mixed bunch of often totally outrageous characters, professional divers, are drawn from all classes of society and all quarters of the globe and, perhaps unusually, many of them from all kinds of previous different professions who, for reasons best known to themselves, decided to make diving their newly chosen vocation. Not entirely rejecting their former way of life, but seeking out those companies the length and breadth of the world who would pay them well to utilise their hard-earned skills and experience, sometimes in foreign oil and gas fields, but most certainly in our own, to fulfil our nation's increasing reliance on the products of those skills. Seamen, airmen, soldiers, coal miners, accountants, building workers, university
graduates, shop assistants, naval and army officers, or farm-workers; it seems to matter not in the least in the initiative these men have taken to improve their lifestyle by investing in their futures. To earn more money, of course, but sometimes just as importantly to do something they consider rather more worthwhile and considerably more interesting than that in which they were perhaps previously gainfully employed.
Select numbers of divers end up in the oilfield business because it is, without doubt, a very serious business but a great and fascinating adventure too. To be a vital part of the exploration for, or production of, oil and gas in what must surely be, more often than not, one of the most interesting jobs in the world can be nothing short of a huge bonus in a profession dearly loved, with a passion that people who dislike or are indifferent towards the water would find exceedingly hard to understand. Not exactly on a par with astronauts walking on the moon, or changing out a computer on the Hubble Telescope, but nevertheless, when major goals are achieved, it often seems just as fantastic, considering that the underwater world is still almost as totally alien to man as it was a million years ago, even though our seas cover about seventy percent of the earth's surface. I can well remember diving in an attempt to stab the then world's largest oil pipeline riser (the pipe which brings oil up from the seabed) of 142 centimetres (56 inches) in diameter, and weighing around 120 tonnes, into the 'tube turn' (the bend as the pipeline turns up from the seabed to rise up a platform) of a pipeline at the base of a platform on Kharg Island in Iran. It was only in about twenty eight metres (ninety feet) of water but dangling precariously on the end of a crane wire, so when it finally went in and lined up, after many round the clock previous attempts by the whole diving team, it was like all your Christmas's had come on the same day. In the very early days of North Sea operations many divers were drawn from their respective native shores of the two most productive countries bordering the North Sea - Britain and Norway. But others arrived in our prospective and budding gas and oilfields on rigs, boats, helicopters, and offshore barges, from countries as diverse as Germany, Holland, Italy and France, to South and East Africa and Australia. And not a few from the United States of America, and other Mediterranean island countries too, such as Malta, Greece and Cyprus, to mention just some of the cosmopolitan mix of nationalities, some of which to this day, as in many other oilfield skills, blend seamlessly within the three percent of non-European Union nationals employed throughout the offshore industry, who are gladly absorbed within the industry as a whole for their welcome and valued skills. Though generally on good terms with what they do, divers have their good and bad days like anyone else, but are rarely heard to state that they would rather be doing something different, notwithstanding all the hardships and dangers they are often called upon to endure. Money aside, in the final analysis they still very much like the job they are doing, and great confidence in their own abilities is one of their major assets, whether that be applied to the physical side of diving, the profession as a whole, or to any other aspect of their lives. Most all, and quite naturally so, would readily agree that the money they can earn is the primary incentive and, if successfully trained at one of the schools for professional divers, or leaving the Armed Forces as a trained diver and getting offshore certification, will attempt to enter the oil-field business at the very first opportunity, as that is where the big money is. Some will be disappointed as it is not a situation one can just walk into. It's a bit of a 'Catch 22' situation where, even with the appropriate training and certification, hands-on previous experience can sometimes be the order of the day and, without that experience, jobs can still be hard to come by unless, of course, you have proven ability - perhaps a good spell in civil engineering or dockyard diving - and strong powers of persuasion. No matter what profession a person is considering entering, and diving is no different, actually getting a job with a diving company depends a great deal on the applicant's ability to interest a prospective employer in his previous experience and the qualifications that he has obtained. He would have to prove his ability enough to persuade that employer that he will be a reliable employee, fit and able to undertake any reasonably required task, be a credit and an asset to the company, and be amenable to the employers' required working routine. He will also have to assure the employer of his availability for work at a moment's notice, a great deal of which will be unsocial hours, and will include days such as Christmas and other Bank Holidays, and possibly include much time away from home, perhaps for weeks or even months at a time. He will, of course, subsequently need to prove that he can work as a cohesive member of a team. Although the average professional diver is something of a special individual, there is no place for individuals in the context of the kind of teamwork required in the diving business. Without doubt the UK offers some of the best, if not the best, commercial diver training in the world; some training companies having many years of experience, and with the most recognised qualifications in the field of Commercial Diving to be obtained anywhere. At first glance the cost of the various courses may seem prohibitive but when you consider what you get for your money, and how quickly you can earn it back again at a basic £200 a day plus, once gainfully employed offshore, it can only be looked upon as one of the best investments an interested person could make. Invariably an aptitude test will need to be taken, and this is in everyone's interest, as you the budding diver will not want to waste your money if you are not really suited to the industry, and the diving schools don't want you if you are not cut out for the job. They are experts at assessing this in a very short space of time. Many applicants fail right there, and some fail on the course, and even more leave the industry very quickly when they find out at first hand that life for the average diver is not always the glamorous bed of roses they imagined it would be, but instead is one with much repetitive, boring, dangerous, and dirty work. Once a diver has some basic air training and a suitable qualification, to gain some good open water experience, those shallower and less demanding oilfields of the Middle East or South America are recommended as good training grounds before applying for training to obtain the necessary offshore certification, and making what can only be classed as a major transition to the likes of the North Sea. It is almost certain that initially the new diver will find more work opportunities abroad than in the UK, and often better pay too, probably because in total there's a lot more going on worldwide, plus the fact that most diving companies abroad now require HSE (Health and Safety Executive) certificated divers to at least Units A and B (old Part 3) standard, as shown below, as older, less qualified divers are phased out; mostly on a voluntary basis. This is no doubt due to the fact that the relevant divisions of many foreign countries around the world are becoming members of the International Marine Contractors Association and are insisting on HSE standards. Without doubt the UK has been responsible for the implementation of safer diving practises worldwide and the perhaps unwitting ambassadorship abroad of our well qualified and competent divers and supervisors has shown the world the way, putting them in great demand; and that is very commendable. Like some other professions, qualified divers are not tested specifically for diving ability or knowledge before going to work on a particular job but they must, of course, be fully qualified and medically approved for the particular type of diving work they want to do, and be able to produce certification to that effect. And when they get to a diving location it will very soon be established whether or not they are suited to the job and, just as importantly, show a willingness to fit in as a good, knowledgeable and reliable member of a team. The industry having recognised the importance of the diving supervisor has made him entirely responsible for, amongst many other things, seeing that this is the case. He will check that all and any diver on his team will be fit and well, suitably qualified and competent to carry out the work required to be done on a specific site, and fully certificated for such work with the certificate in his possession. That doesn't mean to say that you have to be totally conversant with all aspects of the job from day one as you are brought on through the system, dependent on your increasing experience, and given appropriate duties in which you will be ably assisted and encouraged by all members of the team. In the UK there are various categories of certificated diver, (see table below), the main two of which concerning the offshore industry are the Surface Supplied (Top Up) and the Mixed Gas, or Closed Bell diver. A closed bell is a dry bell, used usually on lengthy mixed gas surface oriented or 'saturation' work (see page 68), as opposed to a wet bell which, as its name certainly implies, is open sided to the water. This wet bell, like its closed bell brother, is fitted with its own independent life-support system should there be any problem with continuity of the main surface supplies, and is used for dives of relevantly short duration using natural air or mixed gas, depending on depth. The industry safe accepted depth limit for surface supplied air diving is up to 50 metres (165 feet), and for the 'Top Up' diver mentioned, this is the advanced air diving qualification allowing a diver to work offshore using all types of air diving equipment and techniques which include wet bells and hot water suits. The diver will be thoroughly trained and certificated in all aspects of the hardware of air diving, and methods of decompression, along with First Aid training, which is compulsory, and have a working knowledge of diving physiology.
	Closed Bell Mixed Gas Diving, as discussed later, is an obtainable skill for which qualified divers with at least one year of certificated offshore experience and at least 50 hours of logged dives to various water depths, will present themselves at the gates of a suitable diving school for this advanced and intensive course, which trains a diver to work to unlimited depths using oxygen and helium breathing mixtures on saturation diving techniques, and be a top man in his field. However, it is recommended by some who have gone this route that it is probably better to get rather more than one year of working experience before making application.
UK diving schools played a major role in training many of the early oilfield divers, and have been instrumental over the years in helping to improve overall safety in the offshore diving industry. In addition to the schools' speciality courses in underwater systems and training, divers can obtain additional skills such as underwater welding, cutting and burning, and non destructive testing or, importantly, qualify as a 'Diver Medic' as, under offshore diving legislation, every offshore diving team must have at least one such qualified person. One particular centre in the UK is universally recognised as the world leader in Commercial Diver Training, and offers HSE certification for working divers within the UK, as well as equivalent certification overseas. The United States of America does not have a Government diver certification scheme, but anyone undertaking and completing a diving course at one of the United States diver training schools stands a good chance of obtaining work over there. However, that person then needs to consider how that will affect him getting work in UK waters at some time in the distant future, as to dive commercially anywhere in the UK you do need that HSE certification, or its accepted equivalent, and this does not include USA diving school certificates. No matter what kind of professional diving you intend to do, both in the UK and many countries overseas where diving companies are members of The International Marine Contractors Association, whether inshore or offshore, you do need that important piece of paper. At present overseas certification is accepted by the HSE from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and most European countries. Many young men, who are to be encouraged, and must be over the age of 18 years to actually be employed offshore as a diver in the UK, will perhaps start off as 'tenders'. In other words, getting employment around docks and harbours, or other civil engineering type work, tending to divers' needs with a view to becoming a diver themselves one day. Although in general there are no actual diver apprenticeship schemes available, these eager, nascent divers can be employed, under supervision, dressing and undressing divers in their diving suits and ancillary equipment, washing out and looking after the equipment after dives, tending lines and hoses, setting up and cleaning dive stations, checking chambers, taking care of and checking compressors, fuel and oil levels, draining filters, and making sure compressor exhaust fumes, or any other kind of bad air from any source, are not likely to cause death or danger by getting sucked into the diver's air supply. They can generally make themselves useful around the diving scene in addition to thoroughly familiarising themselves with every aspect of the operation, just as the divers and everyone else connected to the operation, will know so to do. Not least they should be familiar with any diving procedure to be used, along with contingency plans for any arising emergency. The better tenders may actually be qualified divers, but so limited in experience that they will probably be employed in the capacity of tender before being 'broken out' by a kindly inshore supervisor. The job of tender is a composite and important one, and should not be underestimated in its importance for gaining experience towards the ultimate goal of qualifying as a fully certificated diver and going on to greater things, or actually being asked to make a straightforward first operational dive if already qualified. Some people make a specific career as a diving tender, with no intention of ever going under the water, though this is found more on the Civil Engineering side of things. In the USA where the tender system is most common, some freelance divers employ their own permanent tender, the latter looking after his master in all things connected with the diver's work, equipment and well-being when they are at work, and sometimes acting as a general dogs-body when they are not. In these cases the diver pays the tender out of his own earnings, and they are, and act, as a team. However, none of the above relieves the person actually about to carry out a dive of his own ultimate responsibility in checking that everything to be used in connection with his dive is in order, nor the whole team in fact, as it is incumbent upon them to carry out pre-dive checks on all the plant and equipment no matter how much reliance is generally placed on the fact that it was in order the day, or even the dive, before. In the UK, the Diving Operations at Work Regulations 1997, make it mandatory that all working divers be qualified to the appropriate HSE approved standard for the type of diving operations which they will be undertaking, and in addition that they must keep a daily record or diving log of each dive specifically detailing such things as their diving contractor employer's name and address, date of dive, dive location, personal diving equipment used, depth of dive, bottom time, work undertaken, any subsequent decompression details, and any problems that may have arisen. This list is by no means definitive, and were I a budding diver today, or even a well qualified one with supervisory ambition who wanted to refresh his memory and prepare himself for advancement, in addition to obtaining a copy of "The Professional Diver's Handbook", I would consider the current purchase price of the Approved Code of Practice an exceedingly good overall investment for all that it contains in being approved for the purposes of providing practical guidance with respect to the requirements of the above Regulations. From 1981 to 1998 these were the Standards for Assessing Diver Competence: Part 1 Basic Air Diving Part 11 Mixed Gas diving Part 111 Air Diving where no surface compression chamber is required on site. Part 1V Air Diving with Self-Contained Equipment where no surface compression chamber is required on site. From 1998 onwards, Health and Safety Diver Competences are: Unit A Surface Supplied Diving Assessed to dive to a maximum depth of 50 metres (165 feet), (not less than 40 metres). Can work to 50 metres. Unit B SCUBA Diving Assessed to dive to a maximum depth of 30 metres (100 feet), (not less than 25 metres). Can work to 50 metres. (This anomaly is correct). Unit C Closed Bell Diving A pre-requisite for this type of diving is that the diver must have HSE Surface Supplied and Surface Supplied (Top Up) Diving qualifications or accepted equivalents, and a minimum 12 months offshore experience, including dives to various depths. Assessed to dive to 100 metres on a combined bounce/saturation dive profile. (See pages 66). Unit D Surface Supplied Diving (Top-Up) For this type of diving the diver must have an HSE Surface Supplied Diving qualification or an accepted equivalent. Assessment is on three topics: use of a wet bell; use of hot water suits; and theory of the hazards involved in diving from a Dynamically Positioned vessel. (See pages 72 & 174). A diver cannot work offshore in the air range unless he holds the HSE Surface Supplied and Surface Supplied (Top Up) Diving qualifications, or accepted equivalents. The older type certificates issued under the Diving Operations at Work Regulations 1981 are still valid, as are transitional certificates issued under regulation 15 of these regulations, and certificates issued by the Manpower Services Commission and the Training Services Agency. Further and fuller explanations of these titles are obtainable from the HSE (Offshore Division, Diving Operations Strategy Team) in London, or any British Diver Training Centre. All divers working in the UK also require a certificate of medical fitness to dive, and the HSE Guidance to "Medical Examiners of Divers" Form MA1 outlines the HSE medical standards for diving at work. These are used by medical examiners approved by the HSE to perform statutory diving medical examinations and assessments under the Diving at Work Regulations 1997. Form MA1 is a comprehensive twelve-page document, and it is highly recommended within that document that anyone considering a career in diving should complete a medical questionnaire obtainable from the HSE, or a diver-training organisation offering competence assessment leading to the award of a qualification approved by the HSE. This questionnaire looks at whether anything in a person's medical history would preclude them from a career in diving, which they can check with their own GP, thus saving on time and expense for all concerned. Within the next year the HSE will have stopped approving medical examiners of divers outside of the UK. However, a programme of mutual recognition of European Member State diving medicals is being progressed by the HSE, who already have mutual recognition with Norway.