Technical and operational regulations § 63

§ 63 Diving operations

Surface-oriented diving, bell diving and saturation diving at onshore facilities shall be carried out in a prudent manner.
Bell diving and saturation diving at onshore facilities shall be carried out in compliance with requirements in the Facilities Regulations and in the Activities Regulations.
In respect of surface diving:
  1. a pressure chamber shall be accessible at all diving sites,
  2. diving teams shall consist of at least four qualified people with documented competence/certificates (diving leader, diver, back-up diver and tender (line/hose guide)),
  3. procedures shall be prepared that clearly describe technical, operational and health conditions for normal operation, emergencies and emergency preparedness situations,
  4. training in the use of emergency and preparedness procedures shall be documented, and
  5. requirements shall be set for annual health checks of divers, and the employer shall have a system for medical follow-up of divers.
Section last changed: 01 January 2014

For the performance of bell diving and saturation diving at onshore facilities, NORSOK U-100 should be used.
For the performance of surface-oriented diving at onshore facilities, NORSOK U-103 should be used. In order to fulfil the competence requirement for dive leaders as mentioned in the third paragraph litera b, dive leader candidates with a diving certificate corresponding to Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority class 1 for surface-oriented diving may follow training in accordance with Section 26-13 of the Regulations concerning the performance of work. For requirements regarding the documentation of experience in accordance with NORSOK U-103, see Section 23 of the Framework Regulations.
As regards the use of air bottles for diving and respiratory protective equipment, refer to the relevant provisions in Regulations to the Working Environment Act of 6 December 2011.
In respect of annual health checks of occupational divers as mentioned in the third subsection, litera e, the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s “Guidelines for health examinations of occupational divers” should be used.