Safe practices manual requirements

The employer is responsible for developing and maintaining the safe practices manual, and the manual must be made available at the dive location to each dive team member. Employers must provide and maintain the manual as part of their duties under 1910.420(a).

• Practical tip: Keep a hard copy and an accessible electronic copy at each dive site so every dive team member can consult it during planning and operations.

The manual must include a copy of the commercial diving standard and the employer’s policies for implementing it. Specifically, the manual shall contain a copy of the standard and the employer's policies for meeting its requirements as required by 1910.420(b)(1).

• Practical action: Insert a current printed copy of 1910.420 and an appendix that explains how your company applies each paragraph.

Yes. For each diving mode the employer engages in, the manual must include content specific to that mode as required by 1910.420(b)(2).

• Examples of diving modes: surface-supplied diving, SCUBA, mixed-gas, saturation, or bell diving.
• Practical action: Create a separate section or annex for each mode with mode-specific procedures and checklists.

The manual should include safety procedures and checklists that cover planning, pre-dive checks, in-water procedures, communications, and post-dive activities for each diving mode as required by 1910.420(b)(2)(i).

• Suggested checklist items: hazard assessment, environmental checks (visibility, current, temperature), equipment inspection, gas supply verification, briefing attendance, and emergency contact information.
• Practical tip: Use simple, numbered checklists that divers and tenders can sign to document completion.

The manual must clearly state assignments and responsibilities for each dive team member for each diving mode, as required by 1910.420(b)(2)(ii).

• Examples of roles to define: dive supervisor, diver, tender, life-support technician, bellman, medical attendant, and communications operator.
• Practical action: Include a responsibilities table that lists each role, its duties, required qualifications, and who fills that role on each job.

The manual must include equipment procedures and checklists that cover inspection, maintenance, testing, and pre-dive verification of all diving equipment used for each mode, as required by 1910.420(b)(2)(iii).

• Suggested items: daily/weekly inspection logs, calibration records for gas analyzers, cylinder hydro/visual inspection status, and procedures for documenting repairs.
• Practical tip: Use forms that capture serial numbers, last maintenance date, inspector name, and findings; retain completed checklists per company policy.

The manual must include emergency procedures for fire, equipment failure, adverse environmental conditions, and medical illness and injury, as required by 1910.420(b)(2)(iv).

• Practical elements: clear roles during an emergency, evacuation and pickup procedures, surface-to-shore communications, location of emergency equipment (O2, first aid, stretchers), and nearest medical facilities and medevac contacts.
• Drill recommendation: Practice these emergency procedures through regular drills and record the results.

The standard requires the manual be made available to each dive team member, but it does not specify language; employers must ensure employees can understand the manual to implement its safety procedures effectively under 1910.420(a) and 1910.420(b)(1).

• Practical guidance: Provide translations or use trained interpreters where necessary so team members fully understand assignments, checklists, and emergency procedures.

The manual must include both a copy of the standard and the employer’s policies for implementing the requirements; simply reproducing the regulatory text is not enough without company-specific implementing policies as required by 1910.420(b)(1).

• Practical action: After including the standard text, add clear company procedures that explain how your organization will meet each paragraph (who does what, paperwork, training, and verification steps).

Yes—if your employer engages in a diving mode at remote or off-site locations, the manual must include procedures and checklists applicable to each diving mode in those locations under 1910.420(b)(2).

• Practical items to add for remote dives: site-specific hazard assessments, evacuation and medevac plans, communications plan, and equipment transport/inspection checklists.

Each dive team member must have access to the manual, including emergency medical procedures, while at the dive location as required by 1910.420(a).

• Recommended practice: Ensure the dive supervisor, diver, tenders, and the designated medical attendant each have immediate access to the emergency procedures and contact lists during operations.

The standard requires assignments and responsibilities to be listed, so the manual should identify who has authority during emergencies as part of those responsibilities under 1910.420(b)(2)(ii).

• Practical suggestion: Clearly state in the responsibilities section who can call an abort, order an evacuation, perform emergency equipment deployment, or contact medical services.

The standard requires equipment procedures and checklists; while it does not prescribe exact record formats, employers must include procedures for equipment inspection and maintenance and should keep related records in accordance with those procedures as part of 1910.420(b)(2)(iii).

• Practical action: Maintain dated logs of inspections, maintenance actions, and repairs and store either in the manual binder or a clearly referenced location accessible to dive team members.

Yes. The manual must include emergency procedures for adverse environmental conditions, so it should address specific hazards like strong currents, low visibility, storms, or tidal changes under 1910.420(b)(2)(iv).

• Practical items: decision criteria for canceling dives, safe-abort procedures, surface recovery plans, and alternate dive sites when conditions deteriorate.

The standard requires the employer to develop and maintain the manual, but it does not set a specific review frequency; employers must therefore establish and document a review and update process as part of maintenance under 1910.420(a).

• Practical recommendation: Review the manual after incidents, changes in operations/equipment, regulatory updates, or at least annually; record revision dates and approver names in the manual.

Each employer must have and make available a safe practices manual to its dive team members; when multiple employers work together, each employer should ensure their teams have access to appropriate procedures and coordinate to reconcile differences as required by 1910.420(a).

• Practical step: Hold a joint pre-dive meeting to align responsibilities and emergency procedures and document which employer’s procedures will govern specific activities.

Yes—the manual must contain emergency procedures for medical illness and injury, and that should include a formal incident-response plan covering on-site first aid, oxygen administration, evacuation, and medical facility contacts as required by 1910.420(b)(2)(iv).

• Practical items: specify who provides first aid, location of emergency O2 and first-aid kits, transport arrangements, and nearest hyperbaric chamber (if applicable).

The standard requires emergency and safety procedures but does not prescribe detailed medical fitness record formats; however, including pre-dive medical fitness checks and related procedures in the manual is appropriate under 1910.420(b)(2)(i) and emergency procedures under 1910.420(b)(2)(iv).

• Practical action: Add a pre-dive medical checklist (fitness-to-dive questions, medication review, recent illnesses) and specify who reviews/clears the diver before the operation.

The standard requires the manual to contain the standard and the employer’s policies and specific required elements, but it does not forbid referencing other documents; employers may include cross-references to SOPs, training records, and forms as long as the manual and referenced materials are available to dive team members as required by 1910.420(a) and 1910.420(b)(1).

• Practical setup: Maintain the manual as the central index and either include copies of critical SOPs or ensure clear and immediate access to referenced documents on-site.

While 1910.420 requires assignments and responsibilities, it also requires employer policies for implementing the standard; including role-specific training requirements in the manual is a practical way to implement those policies as allowed by 1910.420(b)(1) and 1910.420(b)(2)(ii).

• Practical content: list required certifications, minimum experience, recurrent training intervals, and documentation location for each role.

Yes—the manual should include safety procedures and checklists that cover communications protocols for each diving mode, since communications are a core part of safe dive procedures required by 1910.420(b)(2)(i).

• Suggested items: radio/voice communications checks, hand-signals or line-pull signals, emergency call words, and contingency plans for communications failure.

The standard requires safety procedures and checklists; including a documented pre-dive briefing checklist in the manual is an appropriate and practical way to meet the requirement in 1910.420(b)(2)(i).

• Practical elements: record date/time, personnel present, task overview, hazards identified, emergency contacts, and sign-off by the dive supervisor.

The standard requires the manual be made available at the dive location to each dive team member but does not mandate paper versus electronic format; electronic availability is acceptable so long as all dive team members can access it at the dive location as required by 1910.420(a).

• Practical considerations: ensure reliable device access, battery backups, and an off-line copy in case of connectivity loss; keep a printed emergency procedures summary as backup.