Diving

If you are diving, you must follow the guidelines of your faculty.

Always dive in pairs, not alone.

The full details for diving at the University are covered in the Diving Code of Practice. To find out where to find this, contact the University’s Diving Safety Officer (Paul Caiger), or the Institute of Marine Science's Business and Operations Manager (Boyd Taylor).

New students or staff for whom diving is part of their research requirement must first gain approval from either their supervisor or manager, respectively, to gain approval to dive for the University. Following this, contact the Diving Safety Officer (DSO) to begin registration and then to organise a meeting to outline what dive training or further certification is required and/or checkout dive(s). The University of Auckland is a member of Science Diving New Zealand, which means we adhere to the minimum training requirements set out by them. This also makes inter-organisational diving relatively seamless. Moving forward, there are also annual requirements to stay active (e.g. skills dives, swim tests, organisational knowledge). The Diving Code of Practice details this.

• Recreational dive qualifications (1st three courses)
  1. E.g. PAD – Openwater Diver, Advanced Openwater Diver, Rescue     Diver.
  2. E.g. SSI – Openwater, Advanced Adventurer, Stress & Rescue.
  3. *a divemaster certificate is also beneficial as this would save lots of additional training time as this covers most of the extra practical and theoretical training required to get a scientific diver certificate of competency.
• A current occupational dive medical from a dive doctor and medical clearance from WorkSafe (i.e. you need to send medical to WorkSafe).
• A current first aid training certificate (within two years).
• A current 02 training certificate (within two years).
• Proof of diving experience (logged dives) 
• A full kit of functional scuba diving equipment for temperate water diving (12 to 22 degrees Celsius), including regulators serviced  annually.

All diving operations require a full health and safety plan in place, outlining what the project is, and to assess the tasks involved and their risks. These are to be developed with your supervisor, or reach out to the DSO for assistance in the development of these plans. The draft plans are then submitted to the DSO well in advance of planned diving (minimum ten days but allow more time for the first one on account of familiarity). This plan will be signed off and used as a template for daily diving activity throughout the project.

• Dive coordinator. Person in charge of the day's diving activities.  The coordinator prepares the dive plan and ensures it has been approved by the dive officer. The dive coordinator can also act as a dive leader, diver, standby diver or dive attendant. The coordinator is to be an experienced diver who is first aid trained and familiar with the intended diving operations and relevant emergency procedures.
• Dive leader. The diver in charge of an individual dive (this can be the dive coordinator or someone else appointed by the dive coordinator).
• Standby diver. A standby diver shall be present whenever a single diver is in the water (tethered mode, see below). A standby diver is not required when more than one diver is in the water (as buddy divers must maintain visual contact and technically act as each
  other’s standby).

Note: A dive coordinator, dive leader and standby diver must be a registered 'scientific diver' or 'visiting scientific diver' at the University (i.e. not a 'restricted scientific diver').

• Dive attendant. A person who stays on the boat to coordinate diving activities. Must be first aid trained and familiar with diving operations and emergency procedures.

Because boating often goes hand-in-hand with diving, it's important to know and follow our boating safety requirements.

Document Control
Version: 1.1
Last Updated: Mar 2025
Next Review: Mar 2028
Owner: hsw@auckland.ac.nz
Approver: Associate Director, Health Safety & Wellbeing