---
kind: "section"
citation: "29 C.F.R. § 1910.422"
title: "29"
number: "1910.422"
heading: "Procedures during dive."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/29/1910.422"
---

# §1910.422. Procedures during dive.

- (a) **General.** The employer shall comply with the following requirements which are applicable to each diving operation unless otherwise specified.
- (b) **Water entry and exit.**
  - (1) A means capable of supporting the diver shall be provided for entering and exiting the water.
  - (2) The means provided for exiting the water shall extend below the water surface.
  - (3) A means shall be provided to assist an injured diver from the water or into a bell.
- (c) **Communications.**
  - (1) An operational two-way voice communication system shall be used between:
    - (i) Each surface-supplied air or mixed-gas diver and a dive team member at the dive location or bell (when provided or required); and
    - (ii) **The bell and the dive location.**
  - (2) An operational, two-way communication system shall be available at the dive location to obtain emergency assistance.
- (d) **Decompression tables.** Decompression, repetitive, and no-decompression tables (as appropriate) shall be at the dive location.
- (e) **Dive profiles.** A depth-time profile, including when appropriate any breathing gas changes, shall be maintained for each diver during the dive including decompression.
- (f) **Hand-held power tools and equipment.**
  - (1) Hand-held electrical tools and equipment shall be de-energized before being placed into or retrieved from the water.
  - (2) Hand-held power tools shall not be supplied with power from the dive location until requested by the diver.
- (g) **Welding and burning.**
  - (1) A current supply switch to interrupt the current flow to the welding or burning electrode shall be:
    - (i) Tended by a dive team member in voice communication with the diver performing the welding or burning; and
    - (ii) **Kept in the open position except when the diver is welding or burning.**
  - (2) The welding machine frame shall be grounded.
  - (3) Welding and burning cables, electrode holders, and connections shall be capable of carrying the maximum current required by the work, and shall be properly insulated.
  - (4) Insulated gloves shall be provided to divers performing welding and burning operations.
  - (5) Prior to welding or burning on closed compartments, structures or pipes, which contain a flammable vapor or in which a flammable vapor may be generated by the work, they shall be vented, flooded, or purged with a mixture of gases which will not support combustion.
- (h) **Explosives.**
  - (1) Employers shall transport, store, and use explosives in accordance with this section and the applicable provisions of §§ 1910.109 and 1926.912 of [Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations](/cfr/29.md).
  - (2) Electrical continuity of explosive circuits shall not be tested until the diver is out of the water.
  - (3) Explosives shall not be detonated while the diver is in the water.
    - (i) **Termination of dive.** The working interval of a dive shall be terminated when:
  - (1) A diver requests termination;
  - (2) A diver fails to respond correctly to communications or signals from a dive team member;
  - (3) Communications are lost and can not be quickly re-established between the diver and a dive team member at the dive location, and between the designated person-in-charge and the person controlling the vessel in liveboating operations; or
  - (4) **A diver begins to use diver-carried reserve breathing gas or the dive-location reserve breathing gas.**

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657; 40 U.S.C. 333; 33 U.S.C. 941; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 8-76 (41 FR 25059), 9-83 (48 FR 35736), 1-90 (55 FR 9033), 6-96 (62 FR 111), 3-2000 (65 FR 50017), 5-2002 (67 FR 65008), 5-2007 (72 FR 31160), or 4-2010 (75 FR 55355) as applicable, and 29 CFR 1911.

### Source

Source: 42 FR 37668, July 22, 1977, unless otherwise noted.

### Authority

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 941; 29 U.S.C. 653, 655, 657; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 12-71 (36 FR 8754); 8-76 (41 FR 25059), 9-83 (48 FR 35736), 1-90 (55 FR 9033), 6-96 (62 FR 111), 3-2000 (65 FR 50017), 5-2002 (67 FR 65008), 5-2007 (72 FR 31160), 4-2010 (75 FR 55355), 1-2012 (77 FR 3912), 08-2020 (85 FR 58393), or 07-2025 (90 FR 27878); 29 CFR part 1911; and 5 U.S.C. 553, as applicable.

### Source

Source: 39 FR 23502, June 27, 1974, unless otherwise noted.

### Source

Source: 39 FR 23502, June 27, 1974, unless otherwise noted. Redesignated at 40 FR 23072, May 28, 1975.