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 At The Ocean Corporation, Houston, dive trainees spend a good deal of their time in one of seven different on-site tanks, as well as in open water. But there are good reasons for it, says Michael Cocks. Continuing my worldwide tour of dive training schools, I recently spent ten days at The Ocean Corporation in Houston as the guest of its President, John Wood. As with the Divers Institute in Seattle, I found a very impressive set-up, with standards far more closely monitored by government authorities than appears to be the case in the UK. Moreover, it is part of American schools' remit that they are obliged to find jobs for their students. In addition, the end user, the dive contractor, takes a keen interest in what is taught at the schools. The Ocean Corporation was set up as a training facility in 1969. In April 1971 it entered into a joint venture agreement with Oceaneering International Inc, and began training for international offshore oilfield diving. A year later it bought out Oceaneering's interests and became an independent training organisation. In December 1987 it moved to a new 1.9-acre site, subsequently expanded to a 4.2-acre campus. In addition to offices and classrooms, it now boasts an impressive training tank complex, with seven tanks of varying depths and a 400ft-rated wet lock-out diving bell system. There are two hyperbaric chambers. 
Sceptical I had been sceptical as to how it was possible to train divers in tanks. However, I soon discovered that all students pay two visits, lasting several days, to nearby Galveston, where they do final scuba training and complete a complicated construction job in near-black water. I also learned of the considerable advantages of doing a large part of the training in tanks. The largest tank has a working depth of 25ft and contains a structure very similar to that found offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The trainees have to be adept at rigging techniques, as the structures are assembled and taken out of the water. As I found, even in a smaller tank it is easy to trap a finger if one is not careful. In a shallow tank the diver can be put under stress in controlled conditions. I took part in three tests. Firstly, my main air supply was turned off and water seeped in above my nose before I was allowed to place the pneumo inside the helmet to expel the water and breathe off it. On another dive my umbilical was changed out under water by another student. Again I had to breathe off my pneumo. Finally, on my third test dive the instructor, Jerry Ford, blacked out my faceplate, then wrapped the umbilical and some rope around me so that I had to free myself in order to reach the surface. I did not know that Jerry was alongside me the whole time I was in the water. It is good to see that here, as in Seattle, the instructors dive with the students. 
As at other American schools, the students at The Ocean Corporation operate as a close-knit team. They have to set up the station by themselves and in effect run the dives. The instructors, all of whom have to have had at least five years' commercial diving experience, check that all is in order before dives take place.The confidence-building exercises, the need to operate as a team, and the much longer training, produce far more competent divers than is possible on shorter courses where there are less specific tasks to complete and the training seems to be too "ultra" safe. In America, courses have to be at least 30 weeks long in order to get government approval and enable the students to get loans or grants. Graduation American schools have to ensure that they place at least 75 per cent of students into work, and for the 19 students graduating while I was at The Ocean Corporation there were 200 vacancies to fill. Representatives from several companies, including Caldive, Global, Oceaneering and Stolt Comex, were present at the graduation ceremony, snapping up the newly qualified divers. They begin as diver tenders, with some diving, and then progress, after about 18 months, to become full divers. Then about four years later the best are trained, largely on site, as saturation divers. In effect, this is like the old apprenticeship system, which I and others have called for in the UK for some time. In addition to the dives described above, I had one lock-out during a simulated 30-metre dive in the diving bell system tended by Jerry Ford, plus a dive in a sealed Viking constant-volume suit, with a Desco helmet. I was also able to fly an ROV. All in all, as at Seattle, I was allowed to have a go at anything I asked to try. I also had three dives using a brand new helmet with Jim Haynes, a highly experienced diver, who once taught at Fort Bovisand. The Gorski 2000 has recently been developed as an all-metal heavy-duty helmet. This helmet gives much greater visibility for the diver, and there are varying sizes of neck dams. It uses the Poseidon Cyklon 5000 regulator, which is tested to depths up to 980ft of sea water. 
The helmet is strong and, perhaps most important, all valves, regulators, and so on, are industry brand names that can be easily and cheaply obtained. By my third dive I found it a comfortable helmet to use and enjoyed the greater visibility it provides. I understand that a number of Gorski 2000 hats have been ordered by Caldive, and it will be interesting to see how they perform in the real world. Contrast Generally, it saddens me that increasingly I am having, in these articles on overseas diver training schools, to contrast them with the UK schools, often showing that many aspects of training are far superior. The HSE diving certificate still commands respect around the world, but training must keep up with standards outside the UK. Every school can learn from others, and I fear the only solution may be greater government involvement, both financially and in setting training standards in the running of UK schools. I have again told the HSE in the UK that I think it is absurd that they recognise schools they have not visited yet refuse to accept American schools. IMCA does recognise American training. Surely how well and safely divers are trained is more important than bureaucratic red tape. I still await a comment from the HSE and the UK schools to my call for a full review of UK training. Oddball As on all my overseas trips so far I could not have been made more welcome in Houston. The students and instructors accepted a slightly oddball, rapidly ageing, strangely speaking, Englishman with friendliness, and helped me to dive as often as I wished. In Houston, John Wood and his family provided the type of Texan hospitality he had promised - and this included a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, and to Galveston to look over three beautifully preserved historic (by American standards) homes. |
© 2002 Underwater World Publications Ltd.