Abstract
Commercial saturation diving involves divers living and working in an enclosed atmosphere with elevated partial pressure of oxygen (ppO2) for weeks. The divers must acclimatize to these conditions during compression, and for up to 28 days until decompression is completed. During decompression, the ppO2 and ambient pressure are gradually decreased; then the divers must acclimatize again to breathing normal air in atmospheric pressure when they arrive at surface. We investigated 51 saturation divers’ subjective evaluation of the saturation and post-decompression phase via questionnaires and individual interviews. The questions were about decompression headaches and fatigue; and time before recovering to a pre-saturation state. Twenty-two (44%) of the divers who responded declared having headaches; near surface (44%) or after surfacing (56%). 71% reported post-saturation fatigue after their last saturation, 82% of them described it as typical and systematic after each saturation. Recovery was reported to normally take from 1 to 10 days. The fatigue and headaches observed are compatible with divers’ acclimatization to the changes in ppO2 levels during saturation and decompression. They appear to be reversible post- decompression.
Highlights
Commercial saturation diving in the North Sea started with the emergence of the offshore oil and gas industry in 1969
At the turn of the 90s, the Norwegian media raised the issue of potential long-term health effects of deep diving
A total of 51 divers were invited to participate in the study, and all of them accepted and answered the questionnaire (n = 29 in the Norwegian sector, and n = 22 in the United Kingdom sector)
Summary
Commercial saturation diving in the North Sea started with the emergence of the offshore oil and gas industry in 1969. A series of contracts was awarded in Norway for validating diver interventions to 300–350 msw. During this period, outstanding developments were conducted at the Norwegian Underwater Technology Centre (NUTEC) in Bergen and several deep saturation dives were performed in the Norwegian fjords (Hope et al, 2005a). At the turn of the 90s, the Norwegian media raised the issue of potential long-term health effects of deep diving. This became a national debate and in 1993, the Godøysund conference concluded that standard saturation diving in the Norwegian continental shelf should be limited. NORSOK-U100 standards (Standards Norway, 2014) that regulates manned underwater operations in Norway limits standard operations to 180 msw
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