Dive Brief:
- Ballhawker of Florida, a Jacksonville-area commercial diving and recovery company, faces $55,870 in penalties after a 26-year-old diver drowned on the job, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a July 12 media release.
- In December 2021, the diver and his co-worker were recovering sunken golf balls in a pond on a Ponte Vedra Beach golf course, according to the release. The diver became unresponsive, and the co-worker pulled him from the pond and asked a passing golfer to call 911, OSHA said. The diver was transported to a local hospital where he later died. He’d only been working for Ballhawker for three days, the release noted.
- OSHA inspectors found that Ballhawker failed to provide the required training and supervision, the agency said. It cited the company for 12 serious violations. “Commercial divers are exposed to a variety of hazards, and it is an employer’s responsibility not to start a dive until it is safe,” OSHA Area Acting Office Director Erin Sanchez stated in the release.
Dive Insight:
This case is a tragic reminder of why “safety starts with training,” a message OSHA shared upfront on its training resource page. Among the alleged violations, Ballhawker was cited for failing to train divers on how to safely handle their tasks and equipment, such as using diver depth gauges, and on life-saving measures, such as CPR. OSHA also found the employer failed to provide continuous monitoring of diving operations.
But the case also points to where HR can play an important role. When developing onboarding programs, HR may want to consider incorporating OSHA’s mandated training requirements — training workers on the safe way to do their jobs. There are legal and practical reasons for doing so: Researchers have found that new hires have a higher rate of injury and illness than more experienced workers, OSHA pointed out in a guidance on training standards.
It’s also a good idea to keep a record of all safety and health training, according to the guidance. Documentation can answer one of the first questions an OSHA investigator reportedly will ask if there’s an accident: “Did the employee receive adequate training to do the job well?”
Although OSHA categorizes its training standards by industry, some guidelines apply across the board. For example, all trainers must have safety and health expertise, sound instructional skills and flexibility, according to an OSHA resource for training programs. To ensure these qualifications are met, OSHA suggested employers verify that a potential instructor has documented training experience in the topics to be taught and successfully completed a “train-the-trainer” program specific to these topics.
The best training programs are accurate, credible, clear and practical, according to the resource. Employees who are effectively trained learn how to identify safety and health problems at their workplace, analyze the causes of these problems, and involve their workers in the above, the resource added.
OSHA penalties for noncompliance can add up. Employers can face up to $14,502 for each “serious” violation, other than serious poster violations. A serious violation exists when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not know or could not have known of the violation.
Employers can find more guidance at OSHA’s compliance assistance site.
