Canadian Association of Diving Contractors

As this is being written (Oct 2020) , we have entered the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our industry—the provision of commercial underwater servicing—has been deemed an essential service in nearly all jurisdictions across North America. We are in the middle of it. We are on the front lines.

From diver training and certification, to the working diver on the end of the hose, all sectors and phases in our industry have met their challenges—and they’ve innovated in several ways to survive and thrive through this pandemic.

Diver training was immediately impacted, as all schools were ordered to shut down. The halt included dive schools, both private and publicly owned. Some of the private diving schools weren’t prepared for online leaning. It was new to them. And—unlike the publicly owned schools—they, in some cases, didn’t have the resources or infrastructure to teach online. Publicly owned schools were “shackled” by government mandates—and the bureaucracy that come with those mandates.

However, both types of schools pivoted, adapting and innovating as the situation unfolded across the country. Read Dealing with Dive School Closures During Quarantine on page 23 to learn more about the challenges dive schools faced and to see what they did about it. Divers are resourceful.

Diver certification organizations such as the Diver Certification Board of Canada had to dig deep to ensure schools were teaching to meet certification to CSA Diver Competency Standard Z275.4. Flip to page 27 to read The Impact of COVID-19: Changes in Process & Allowances for Certification, Training & Logbooks, which looks at the challenges they faced regarding certification.

On the actual operations front, dive service companies—deemed essential services—had to quickly adapt their operations to comply with COVID-19 health and safety protocol mandated by various provincial and federal jurisdictions. In some cases, jurisdictions imposed travel restrictions regionally and interprovincially in an attempt to curtail the spread of the disease. Travel between some provinces became restrictive. The “Atlantic Bubble,” consisting of the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador, formed quickly to limit outside access to their combined borders. Quebec set up roadblocks to limit ground access from Ontario. Read about the challenges faced by dive service providers, and how they addressed those challenges, in Problems & Solutions: The Challenges of Operating in a COVID-19 Environment on page 16.

Our member spotlight in this issue shines on Canada Pump & Power, which offers its clients superb planning, technical knowledge and quality solutions to stringent international standards. Turn to page 29 to learn more about the company and why they value their CADC membership.

On page 31, photos of our members at work show, among day to day operations, the interesting, new ways of working to comply with COVID-19 restrictions and safety protocols.

Despite the sometimes almost-insurmountable challenges and economic impacts the coronavirus has had on our country and around the world, one thing is certain. Our industry is attuned to working in a hostile environment. It is what we do, and what we will continue to do. It’s what we’ve always done. Survey the situation. Make a plan. Suit up—and get after it.

Failure is not something divers tolerate well—nor does the client. Get the job done, and get it done safely. Our challenge has always been to figure it out. There is no other option.

And while we do our jobs, others are hard at it, too. Health professionals are hard at work and vaccines are on the way. Everyone has to job to do and everyone has an obligation to do their part to make it all work. Be safe. Stay safe. We’ve got this.

READ THE ONLINE VERSION OF THE MAGAZINE: https://tinyurl.com/CADC-MAG-WINTER-2020

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