Question about the new dive regs for the Port of Seattle

Got a call last week from a contractor about a hull cleaning job up there, and they said the city now requires a whole extra safety observer on deck for any dive over 20 feet. That's a FOURTH person on a three-man crew job, which just kills the budget. We had to turn it down because the math didn't work. Has anyone else run into this up in Washington, or is this just a Seattle thing?

4 comments

4 Comments

fiona_west2126d agoMost Upvoted

Right, because what every dive operation really needs is another person standing around watching the bubbles... maybe they can also count how many times the deckhand blinks. Sure, four guys to clean a barnacle off a 30 foot piling, that makes total sense for a 10 minute job. Next thing you know they'll want a notary public on the dock to witness the anchor drop.

robins831mo ago

Tbh that sounds like a nightmare for small outfits. We had a similar thing happen with confined space rules on a tank job last year, paperwork and extra watch guys added two grand out of nowhere. Makes you wonder if they even want the work done.

lindag331mo ago

Used to figure those rules were just red tape, you know? But seeing a two grand hit on a small job from extra paperwork and a watch guy, that's real. Makes you wonder who can actually afford to follow all this stuff. Doesn't it seem like it just pushes the work toward the bigger companies?

wesleyb201mo ago

Man, that's brutal. I mean, adding a whole extra person just kills the profit on those smaller jobs. Feels like they're pricing out the little guys.