What is the difference between a commercial diver and a recreational diver?
Extensive training prepares commercial divers to perform a multitude of underwater tasks.
Estimates vary, but there are between 3 million and 6 million recreational SCUBA divers in the country, but less than 3,000 commercial divers currently working in the United States.
What separates the two?
Recreational Divers Learn Basic Diving Skills
Recreational divers are ordinarily trained through one of a number of different organizations such as PADI, NAUI, PDIC, or the YMCA. Individuals who take one or more recreational courses learn about the equipment they will use, elementary diving physics, essential safety, and other basic skills.
While these organizations teach individuals to safely enjoy the marine environment, such training falls far short of what is necessary to safely and effectively perform complex tasks underwater.
Commercial Divers Are Highly Skilled & Trained
The standard training undergone by the vast majority of commercial divers begins at either an accredited commercial diving school or a school sponsored by one of the branches of the military. This formal training is then supplemented by extensive on-the-job training.
Commercial divers are trained in, among other things, diving physics and physiology, hyperbaric medicine, first aid and CPR, decompression chamber operation and maintenance, decompression and treatment tables, diesel engine and equipment maintenance, rigging, navigation, salvage techniques, underwater burning and welding, and underwater inspections.
Such training is necessary to prepare a commercial diver for the myriad complex tasks that he will face in the field.
Why It Matters
Each year, hundreds, if not thousands, of recreational divers hire themselves out as “commercial” divers to unsuspecting clients. And each year, the news media reports on the predictable, albeit tragic, consequences – fatalities resulting from recreational divers who attempt to perform commercial tasks for which they are poorly trained.
Next: Aren’t there any regulations that address this problem?