Interested getting into hull cleaning

[fstbttms]

Hookah which can only technically considered surface supplied diving (certainly not by any real commercial diving governing body IMCA, DCBC, ADCI, ETC) still would require a 4 man team at a minimum to be lawful. I understand these regulations as they affect my daily life as a commercial diver. Not hating on the practice. I did it myself for quite some time. It's just damn unsafe.

Again, OSHA regs don't apply to most hull cleaning companies. And whether or not you believe it's "damn unsafe," I guarantee the hull cleaning industry has a better safety record than the hard hat industry.

 

[fstbttms]

I had thought if you were scraping off any hull paint - it could not be allowed into Puget Sound waters - so every boat has to be hauled out into a dry dock scenario before the scraping work could begin.

Most of those paints are amazingly toxic - on purpose- you don't want critters growing on your hull - but you don't want toxic flakes/ runoff into the environment.

According to OSHA - you can use a Scamp, though - never seen one - but sounds like a pretty cool underwater James Bond vacuum :

• A commercial diving operation may be used to clean the undersides of hulls while the ship remains in the water. For example, divers may manually steer a hull cleaning device called a SCAMP, which is comprised of rotating steel brushes and an impeller to vacuum the material removed from the hull.

I'm pretty sure you don't understand how in-water hull cleaning is done. And (once more), OSHA regulations DO NOT APPLY to hull cleaners who are not actual employees. If you are an owner/operator or an independent contractor, OSHA has no jurisdiction.

 

[Reef_Rat]

It's not so much the divers who need to be concerned with it. It's Marina owners and their insurance. Not knocking it man. Like I said I used to make my living that way too. The regs on it are about money in my opinion. I got out of it because of some **** that happened to me but I would agree that we see a lot more deaths with hats on than hull cleaning

 

[fstbttms]

It's not so much the divers who need to be concerned with it. It's Marina owners and their insurance. Not knocking it man. Like I said I used to make my living that way too. The regs on it are about money in my opinion. I got out of it because of some **** that happened to me but I would agree that we see a lot more deaths with hats on than hull cleaning

OK, well, I've been in the hull cleaning biz for 23 years. I can tell you from personal experience that marinas are not concerned if OSHA regs are being followed by the divers that work on their premises or not. Why should they? The marina is not employing the divers. Marinas are concerned with insurance. Many (not all, by any means) will require service providers to carry some form of liability insurance. Beyond that- nothing.