New Safety Software Launched for Diving Industry

24 April 2012

A specialist North-east oil and gas industry support and training facility has developed a new software package to control diving system equipment certification and maintenance to industry standards.

The Aberdeen-based National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC), which has been operating in the North-east for more than 20 years, has created a certification management system called DiveCert as a full proof method for ensuring all diving system equipment is regularly tested and recertified to the current industry requirements.

DiveCert controls air diving, mixed gas and saturation diving system certification in accordance with The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) guildelines.

The software allows companies to create, control, store and synchronise entire diving system certification from one portal.

DiveCert has been developed around IMCA documentation to assist with the discipline and organisation for audits and quality control purposes and the software has more than 500 certificate templates.

The system maintains all certification and identifies when they are due to expire or overdue, ensuring that the user has full control and awareness of the status of the diving system certification and maintenance.

Consulting Manager of the NHC, Alexander Harper, said: "We recognised there was a requirement for this software after carrying out audits on diving systems within the industry and realised that there was no common standard or structure for diving system certification. It is essential that offshore companies are clear about the industry requirements with regards to the use of certified diving equipment and this new software ensures that diving systems and ancillary equipment being utilised in an offshore environment is certified as required. Keeping certification up-to-date will also reduce the number of non-conformance reports being raised and any loss of contracts due to bad practice.”

DiveCert is currently in use throughout the globe, including North America where American Marine International (AMI) is currently using the software to support diving operations in the Gulf of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

The NHC, a privately owned company, offers a range of oil and gas industry support and specialised training services to clients in the UK and across the globe. It is currently the only hyperbaric centre of its kind in the UK and boasts a team of experts with a wealth of knowledge in the oil and gas industry.