For all you ADAS accredited occupational divers and dive supervisors out there, your time is nigh! You now have the opportunity to get your occupational diving skills formally recognised under the national vocational qualification scheme. ADAS (the Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme) has developed a national vocational qualification - the Diploma in Occupational Diving - for dive supervisors, dive managers and diver trainers which will complement their existing internationally recognised ADAS accreditation.

ADAS has been working on two levels here. Firstly, it has long been apparent that there is a lack of formal recognition of the skills that dive supervisors need to have to safely and effectively manage a dive operation. In the past, a dive supervisor has simply been appointed by the employer, and expected to supervise a dive operation, with little formal training available to ensure that this can be done safely.

For those of you already performing the duties of a dive supervisor, you know the responsibilities that rest on your shoulders. It is time that you were officially recognised and rewarded with a nationally recognised qualification.

Underwater work, inherently a complex activity, becomes potentially dangerous if supervisors do not have adequate training and experience. ADAS is dedicated to the safety of all occupational divers and has committed substantial resources to improving the training and competence of dive supervisors. Working with the SA diving regulator, the Department of Workplace Services, ADAS has developed a training and assessment program for Supervisors and accredited it as a Certificate IV level course under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) - the competency-based vocational education and training system, which was formally embraced by Australia in 1989. The course will be trialled over the coming months and has input from experienced industry diving supervisors. Existing dive supervisors will have the opportunity to have their skills recognised by ADAS through the ‘recognition of prior learning’ (RPL) process.

Secondly, and more generally, ADAS has developed the ADAS Diploma in Occupational Diving under the AQF to provide a variety of career path options and to formally recognise the skills necessary to become an occupational dive supervisor, dive manager or diver trainer. ADAS has incorporated a management stream in the Diploma course, designed for owner/managers of dive businesses or for Diving Officers carrying out scientific underwater work, and a training stream for ADAS diver trainers involved in training occupational divers to the rigorous requirements of ADAS certification in compliance with AS2815.

As a Registered Training Organisation under the Australian Recognition Framework, ADAS will administer the courses (through its accredited Diver Training Establishments), with approval to issue AQF qualifications up to Diploma level.

The Diploma in Occupational Diving is a comprehensive diving qualification, with exit points at various levels (Certificate III and IV level) and multiple streams. The Certificate III level is comparable to the existing ADAS certificates and existing divers will be granted RPL at their existing level of ADAS accreditation.

The Certificate IV and Diploma level relate to the supervision and management of dive operations. These qualifications complement and are in addition to the internationally recognised ADAS certificates which comply with AS2815 Parts 1-4.

ADAS recognises the value to the diver of providing them with opportunities to gain further recognition for their occupational diving accreditation under the Australian Qualification Framework and has developed the new Diploma in Occupational Diving according to the national accreditation principles, endorsed by the Australian National Training Authority.

Access and pathways include recognition of prior learning and/or off-the-job learning and/or workplace-based learning. The course incorporates specialist streams and multiple exit and re-entry points to enable participants to pursue a career in a variety of fields. These include: aquaculture, marine science, police diving, underwater construction, television/film making and oil field industry (some of these fields require completion of additional units of competency).

ADAS intends to have the course available before the end of 2000. Check out the ADAS website for more information on the new courses, or contact Paul Butler, National Manager of ADAS, on (02) 6213 7960, fax (02) 6213 7950 or e-mail.

(The Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) is a not-for-profit occupational diver training and accreditation scheme developed under the auspices of the Petroleum Sub-Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Minerals and Energy Council (ANZMEC). It is administered by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) on a cost-recovery basis.

ADAS offers accreditation to occupational divers who can establish that they have been assessed by an ADAS Diving Training Establishment as meeting the competency requirements of the relevant ADAS/AS 2815 Part(s). This accreditation is only valid whilst diving operations are being undertaken in accordance with relevant legislation and operational standards and, for a diver, whilst in possession of a current AS 2299 medical certificate certifying him or her fit to dive).

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For more information contact:

TUCF
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