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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2023

European standards for initial training in occupational scientific diving, a necessity, and a guarantee for the mobility of scientists and effective research in the coastal environment

Résumé

Getting diving recognised as a scientific technique has long been a challenge in most European countries because of the ”recreational” image associated with its practice. Another important difficulty for its administrative acceptance has been its supposed danger and the chain of responsibilities that an accident could initiate. As early as the 1980s, it was understood that an essential aspect of making underwater interventions possible in the various scientific disciplines that needed them was the definition and implementation of an initial training that would guarantee maximum safety. A framework at least at European level was necessary to allow scientists from several countries to collaborate and therefore to allow their mobility. The scientific community was mobilised. The most difficult and important task was to set up a representative committee and to define harmonised standards, acceptable and recognised by the Member States. A long process (late 1980’s - 2000’s) led to the proposal to establish European standards for scientific diving and to make visible a ”European Scientific Diving Panel” through the ESF Marine Board between 2008 and 2017. This panel is currently receiving organisational support from the European Network of Marine Institutes and Stations (MARS). This effort finally led to the acceptance and development of two European standards for scientific diving: the European Scientific Diver standard (ESD) and the Advanced European Scientific Diver standard (AESD). Currently, 17 countries recognise and apply these standards (or equivalent). The quality and general acceptance of these standards by a large part of the European scientific community has led to their adoption in the health and safety legislation of 7 European countries (BE, DE, FI, FR, NO, SE, UK). A similar legal process is underway in several other countries. These standards have been defined in the context of the occupational practice of professional scientists. However, the use of the term ”scientific diving” in the world of recreational diving, which does not follow the same rules of professional training and is aimed at volunteers, is currently blurring the original concept of scientific diving. An urgent clarification is needed to differentiate between scientific activity and citizen science, which does not require the same scientific and technical skills, despite the use of similar equipment. The (semantic) confusion created by the indiscriminate use of the same terms to refer to different training and activities risks compromising these years of effort and diminishing the quality of ESD and AESD standards, which are often considered too high and restrictive by the recreational diving sector willing to develop with ISO their own standards, keeping the same wording ”scientific diving” but with a ”citizen science diver” content. Be warned !
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hal-04180475 , version 1 (12-08-2023)

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Paternité - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Pas de modification

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Jean-Pierre Féral, Alain Norro. European standards for initial training in occupational scientific diving, a necessity, and a guarantee for the mobility of scientists and effective research in the coastal environment. 7th European Conference on Scientific Diving, Comité National pour la Plongée Scientifique, May 2023, Roscoff, France. ⟨10.13140/RG.2.2.25683.35365⟩. ⟨hal-04180475⟩
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