Diving Work SWMS

For commercial divers, dive supervisors, marine and civil contractors and surface crews who dive for inspection, repair or construction work. It follows the work from classifying the dive and preparing the dive plan, through fitness and competence checks, site isolation, vessel support and breathing gas, to the dive itself, decompression, recovery, the dive safety log and emergency response. It names the standards the WHS Regulation and the Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice name, and does not replace them.

Diving work is high risk construction work under WHS Regulation s 291(r) only when it is part of construction work, and a SWMS is legally required for high risk construction work (s 299). Commercial diving that is not construction work is not caught by section 291, but Part 4.8 of the Regulation still sets duties for general and high risk diving work. No item is pre-ticked. For construction diving, tick diving work (item r) and any others that apply, such as water with a drowning risk (item q), a fall of more than 2 metres (item a) or powered mobile plant (item o). Otherwise it works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Diving Work SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Classify the work, assess the risks and prepare the dive plan” to “Pack up, inspect the equipment and keep the records”. The hazards and controls include:

• Drowning from loss of breathing gas
• Contaminated or interrupted surface-supplied air
• Diver entangled or trapped by lines and structure
• Water intakes, pumps and underwater plant
• Decompression illness
• Dive vessels and propellers near divers
• Loads lifted near divers
• Unfit or unqualified divers and supervisors
• Strong current, tide and poor visibility
• Diver or crew left behind after the dive
• Delayed rescue, first aid and oxygen
• Missing dive plan, log or records

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• General diving work: a current certificate of medical fitness from a registered medical practitioner with training in underwater medicine, stating whether the diver is medically fit under the fitness criteria (clause M4 of Appendix M to AS/NZS 2299.1:2015) and any conditions; the work stays within those conditions (WHS Regulation ss 168 and 169)
• General diving work: a statement of attainment for a specified VET course that includes the type of work, or a certificate from a training organisation that mentions the subject areas covered in AS/NZS 4005.2:2000, plus sound knowledge and skill in diving physics, the equipment and air supply used, decompression tables or dive computers, dive planning, communication, the type of work, diving physiology and first aid (WHS Regulation s 171); an appointed competent person to supervise the diving, holding the s 171(a) qualification and with experience in the type of diving supervised (ss 174 and 177); written evidence of each diver’s and supervisor’s competence seen before the work and kept for at least one year (s 175); incidental and limited scientific diving (ss 172 and 173) are outside this SWMS
• High risk diving work: fitness, competence and the carrying out of the work are in accordance with AS/NZS 2299.1:2015, and each diver has the qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience it requires for the work (WHS Regulation ss 183 and 184; WHS Act s 44); an appointed competent supervisor is good practice
• No Schedule 3 high risk work licence applies to diving, but one is needed where Schedule 3 sets a class for a crane, dogging or rigging work used on the job (WHS Regulation s 81)
• Person on the surface at the dive site with current diving first aid training, and people trained to give oxygen (Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice 2005 section 4.7)
• Vessel master and crew qualified and experienced for the vessel; check the marine safety rules for the vessel and master (outside this document)
• Rescuers who know diving and diving incident management, are fit, and are dressed and equipped to enter the water quickly (code section 4.6)
• General construction induction training card (white card) when the diving is part of construction work, and the site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): Part 4.8, ss 167 to 182 (general diving work: medical fitness, competence, risk assessment, supervision, dive plan, dive safety log and records)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 183 and 184 (high risk diving work: fitness, competence and the carrying out of the work in accordance with AS/NZS 2299.1:2015 Occupational diving operations Part 1: Standard operational practice)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): Schedule 19 meanings of ‘general diving work’, ‘high risk diving work’, ‘incidental diving work’, ‘limited diving’ and ‘fitness criteria’; ss 289, 291 (paragraph (r), diving work) and 299 (safe work method statements)
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): s 44 (prescribed qualifications or experience), ss 37 to 39 (notifiable incidents)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 36 and 44 (hierarchy of control and personal protective equipment), ss 42 and 43 (first aid and emergency plan), s 48 (remote or isolated work), s 219 (plant that lifts or suspends loads), ss 81 and 85 and Schedule 3 (high risk work licences)
• Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice 2005 (sections 1 to 9)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (heat, UV and remote or isolated work)
• AS/NZS 2299.1:2015 Occupational diving operations Part 1: Standard operational practice, named in ss 183 and 184 of the Regulation and in the Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice 2005
• AS/NZS 4005.2:2000 (Training and certification of recreational divers: Recreational SCUBA dive supervisor), named in s 171 of the Regulation as a standard whose subject areas a certificate for general diving work must mention
• AS/NZS 2299.2 Occupational diving operations – Scientific diving, and AS 3848.2 Filling of portable gas cylinders – Filling of portable cylinders for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and non-underwater self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) – Safe procedures, as named in the Occupational Diving Work Code of Practice 2005
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (20 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 11 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: diving suit suited to the water temperature, harness and weights with a quick-release, as the dive plan sets out
• Emergency arrangements for: diver missing, unresponsive, out of gas or in distress, suspected decompression illness during or after a dive and person overboard or a vessel collision
• Plus the parts every Work Safety QLD SWMS shares, from the s 291 checklist to the worker sign-on sheet (see the layout in our free SWMS template)

Adjust it for your site, plant and crew, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.