Why No Inspections Until After a Death?

I know many us have never seen a Coast Guard inspector on our job sites; at least I never have. The way things are run now, that is a good thing as it means no one has died. Have you ever wondered about that? I mean hell, they are the ones that write the CFR’s that are intended to govern how we do our work.  We all know they don’t govern, but why not? It real simple: they know nothing about diving and they have no budget for training or inspection prior to an accident.

I’m all for the changes in the ADC Consensus Standards. I’m all for the upgrading of the Coast Guard CFR’s. But if all this effort and hype leads to no change in how the Coast Guard goes about its business we have gained notthing

I’m going to make my point on what the Coast Guard knows about our business this way; this is how they classed the death of Marc Begnaud:

Coast Guard Report #1867086

"On 05 July 2003, A diver was pronounced dead as a result of an explosion during welding operations of an underwater gas wellhead located at Ewing Banks (block 827) of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 630ft below the surface.”

Many of us knew and loved Marc and I will tell you true I cried when I read that! Mark Died with an oxy-arc burning torch in his hand. The Coast Guard do not know the difference between WELDING and BURNING.

It is not that they don’t want to do a good job. They just don’t have the money to train their people or to show up and inspect on occasion. As I see it, that is all we really need - an occasional random inspection by a knowledgeable person.

Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard is the man with the fuzzy nuts so I have sent this Roat Deal to him. The Coast Guard has an advisory committee that is making suggestions on the new CFR’s.  They are listing to everyone except to the people they ought to be listening to - the Supervisors, Divers, and Tenders. Their final product will no doubt be of limited worth.

It is also my bet that that the lawyers for both the Diving Contractors and the Oil Company will never allow their representative to mention the dread word enforcement. Let the Coast Guard know what you think, I know they are proud people and want to do a good job.

This is the URL of their web mail page; make sure you are respectful and to the point. By law they have to respond:

http://www.uscg.mil/global/mail/

In the second box down just select: Enhance the Marine Safety Program. This is how mine started:

To: Admiral Thad W. Allen,

From: John Carl Roat

Sir, the following article will appear in the next Offshore Diver Magazine…

And from there I went on from the start of what you have read so far about Why No Inspections Until After A Death?

We’ll see how they respond and I’ll let you know in a future Roat Deal. Meantime, the few paragraphs below were one of the early Roat Deals. Seems relevant again, as always.

DEALING with the OFFICE

If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times,  "Every Nut and  Bolt in this Company is Paid for off a Divers Back”  Yes it’s true but with that said there are a few things that the successful divers and tenders need to keep in mind.  To keep it simple,  NO OFFICE or NO SHOP = NO JOB.  It takes equipment up and ready, sales to get the work, operations and project mangers to put it together and us to do the work.  That’s leaving out accounting and payroll that collect the money and get us paid.

The point I’m trying to make here is: I’m not the only offshore person the office has to deal with.  Too many of us act like we should be all the office has to worry about. The guys that not only do good work offshore, but make themselves easy to deal with, do better in the business. I’m not telling you to be a kiss ass!  I am telling you to be polite and a little forgiving of mistakes.

When nothing is going on, go find out what it takes to run a diving company. You know the shop foreman will love you if gear you take out comes back properly tagged as to it’s condition. Most of us have spent time working in the shop, so we should understand the shop foreman’s problems. Take the time to find out what a project manager has to do. Attend a pre-job meeting and find out what his problems are. Find out what gets done with all the offshore paperwork and the problems it causes if the paperwork is a mess.  Clean up your act (dress nice) and go on a call with a salesman.  The sales staff are not taking people out to lunch as a social function, they are trying to get us a job. All of these things are a part of the business that can make or break a diving company. The more you know the more useful employee you are.  At the very least always be polite.

Real Deal SEAL Team website: www.navyfrogmen.com