Washington Administrative Code › Title 296 - Labor and Industries, Department of › Chapter 296-37 - Standards for commercial diving operations › Section 296-37-515 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
As used in this standard, the listed terms are defined as
				follows:
(1) "Acfm": Actual cubic feet
			 per minute.
(2) "ASME Code or
			 equivalent": ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Boiler and
			 Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, or an equivalent code which the employer
			 can demonstrate to be equally effective.
(3) "ATA": Atmosphere absolute.
(4) "Bell": An enclosed compartment,
			 pressurized (closed bell) or unpressurized (open bell), which allows the diver
			 to be transported to and from the underwater work area and which may be used as
			 a temporary refuge during diving operations.
(5) "Bottom time": The total elapsed time
			 measured in minutes from the time when the diver leaves the surface in descent
			 to the time that the diver begins ascent.
(6) "Bursting pressure": The pressure at
			 which a pressure containment device would fail structurally.
(7) "Cylinder": A pressure vessel for the
			 storage of gases.
(8)
			 "Recompression/decompression chamber": A pressure vessel for human occupancy
			 such as a surface decompression chamber, closed bell, or deep diving system
			 used to decompress divers and to treat decompression sickness.
(9) "Decompression sickness": A condition
			 with a variety of symptoms which may result from gas or bubbles in the tissues
			 of divers after pressure reduction.
(10) "Recompression/decompression table": A
			 profile or set of profiles of depth-time relationships for ascent rates and
			 breathing mixtures to be followed after a specific depth-time exposure or
			 exposures.
(11) "Dive-guiding
			 operations": The leading of groups of trained sports divers, who use
			 open-circuit, semiclosed-circuit, or closed-circuit SCUBA, to local undersea
			 diving locations for recreational purposes.
(12) "Dive location": A surface or vessel
			 from which a diving operation is conducted.
(13) "Dive-location reserve breathing gas": A
			 supply system of air or mixed-gas (as appropriate) at the dive location which
			 is independent of the primary supply system and sufficient to support divers
			 during the planned decompression.
(14) "Dive team": Divers and support
			 employees involved in a diving operation, including the designated
			 person-in-charge.
(15) "Diver": An
			 employee working in water using underwater apparatus which supplies compressed
			 breathing gas at the ambient pressure.
(16) "Diver-carried reserve breathing gas": A
			 diver-carried supply of air or mixed gas (as appropriate) sufficient under
			 standard operating conditions to allow the diver to reach the surface, or
			 another source of breathing gas, or to be reached by a standby diver.
(17) "Diving mode": A type of diving
			 requiring specific equipment, procedures and techniques (SCUBA,
			 surface-supplied air, or mixed gas).
(18) "Fsw": Feet of seawater (or equivalent
			 static pressure head).
(19) "Heavy
			 gear": Diver-worn deep-sea dress including helmet, breastplate, dry suit,
			 weighted shoes.
(20) "Hyperbaric
			 conditions": Pressure conditions in excess of surface pressure.
(21) "Inwater stage": A suspended underwater
			 platform which supports a diver in the water.
(22) "Liveboating": The practice of
			 supporting a surfaced-supplied air or mixed gas diver from a vessel which is
			 underway.
(23) "Mixed-gas diving":
			 A diving mode in which the diver is supplied in the water with a breathing gas
			 other than air.
(24)
			 "No-decompression limits": The depth-time limits of the "no-decompression
			 limits and repetitive dive group designation table for no-decompression air
			 dives," U.S. Navy Diving Manual or equivalent limits which the employer can
			 demonstrate to be equally effective.
(25) "Psi(g)": Pounds per square inch
			 (gauge).
(26) "Recreational diving
			 instruction": The training of diving students in the use of recreational diving
			 procedures and the safe operation of diving equipment, including open-circuit,
			 semiclosed-circuit, or closed-circuit SCUBA during dives.
(27) "Scientific diving" means diving
			 performed solely as a necessary part of a scientific, research, or educational
			 activity by employees whose sole purpose for diving is to perform scientific
			 research tasks. Scientific diving does not include performing any tasks usually
			 associated with commercial diving such as: Placing or removing heavy objects
			 underwater; inspection of pipelines and similar objects; construction;
			 demolition; cutting or welding; or the use of explosives.
(28) "SCUBA diving": A diving mode
			 independent of surface supply in which the diver uses open circuit
			 self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.
(29) "Standby diver": A diver at the dive
			 location properly equipped and available to assist a diver in the
			 water.
(30) "Surface-supplied air
			 diving": A diving mode in which the diver in the water is supplied from the
			 dive location with compressed air for breathing.
(31) "Treatment table": A depth-time and
			 breathing gas profile designed to treat decompression sickness.
(32) "Umbilical": The composite hose bundle
			 between a dive location and a diver or bell, or between a diver and a bell,
			 which supplies the diver or bell with breathing gas, communications, power, or
			 heat as appropriate to the diving mode or conditions, and includes a safety
			 line between the diver and the dive location.
(33) "Volume tank": A pressure vessel
			 connected to the outlet of a compressor and used as an air reservoir.
(34) "Working pressure": The maximum pressure
			 to which a pressure containment device may be exposed under standard operating
			 conditions.
Statutory Authority:
				  RCW
				  49.17.010,
				  49.17.040,
				  49.17.050,
				  49.17.060. 04-18-078, §
				  296-37-515, filed 8/31/04, effective 11/1/04. Statutory Authority: Chapter
				  49.17 RCW and
				  RCW
				  49.17.040, [49.17].050 and [49.17].060.
				  92-22-067 (Order 92-06), § 296-37-515, filed 10/30/92, effective 12/8/92.
				  Statutory Authority:
				  RCW
				  49.17.040 and
				  49.17.050. 87-02-002 (Order
				  86-44), § 296-37-515, filed 12/26/86. Statutory Authority:
				  RCW
				  49.17.040,
				  49.17.050,
				  49.17.240, and
				  chapters
				  42.30 and
				  43.22 RCW. 78-10-094 (Order 78-18),
				  § 296-37-515, filed 10/2/78.