The UK’s Health and Safety Executive has issued sanctions to the director of a diving company and two offshore commercial divers.
The result follows a long investigation by the HSE, which found that the divers colluded to falsify their diving experience and credentials.
The HSE heavily criticized their actions since they placed their lives and those of other divers in grave danger in an offshore diving situation.
The investigation followed the HSE receiving information in December 2022, that both divers had falsified their records in collusion with the director to be able to proceed and obtain their closed bell qualification with insufficient diving experience.
After an extensive investigation, the HSE found that divers had forged multiple records in their logbooks to show they had experience below 15m/~50ft, and that the company director knowingly stamped these false dives.
The HSE investigated in collaboration with the Fraud Investigation Team at Hampshire Police.
Commenting on the events, HSE diving inspector Phil Crombie stated:
“You need diving experience to become a qualified closed bell diver and making it up could put your life and other divers at risk. Offshore diving contractors need to use qualified divers and these men could have worked anywhere across Great Britain. If we hear divers have made up their experience in order to get onto a closed bell course, we will look very carefully at all of the records available.”
