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For standard dive operations at the NBRF, the following organizational structure has been established. Positions which are mandatory for all dive operations are specifically identified, as are positions which require specific training and certification.
Person who formally requests a dive operation. If internal to the SSL, the Test Requestor is responsible for coordinating volunteers to populate the test team and for filling out the test plan. If external to the SSL, the Test Requestor is responsible for coodinating volunteers from the external organization to participate in the test, either as divers or as deck support personnel.
For external tests, an SSL Test Coordinator will take the request from the external organization, and will coordinate SSL volunteers to populate necessary positions on the test team. The Test Coordinator will serve as a single point-of-contact for the external test personnel, and will arrange for external personnel dive certification as required.
Person responsible for overall successful test operations. The Test Director (TD) coordinates all test activities not directly related to diving safety.
(required) Must be an SSL member who is an active diver and has passed the deck chief training programs. The Deck Chief (DC) has overall responsibility for diving safety. These responsibilities include briefing safety-related issues at the pre-dive briefing, logging times for divers and research systems entering and leaving the water, directing deck operations during the test, and initiating and coordinating emergency response if necessary. The Deck Chief should be knowledgeable in the planned test operations, but should not be directly involved in the functional operations of the test. The Deck Chief may order any diver out of the water or terminate dive operations if required for safety.
(required) Must be senior SSL personnel (graduate student, staff, or faculty) who have met the experience requirements and passed the training programs for deck chief and lead diver status. The lead diver is responsible for all underwater operations, with particular emphasis on safety. When required for safety, the lead diver may override all external directives except for those of the Deck Chief, and even DC directives may be skipped or ignored if insufficient time exists to confer and bring the DC up to date. The lead diver may order any diver out of the water or terminate dive operations if required for safety.
(at least one required besides lead diver) May be either internal (SSL members) or external (other University of Maryland, or external to UMd). All divers must meet the eligibility requirements specified in section 2.3. Due to the physical limitations and unique operations of the Space Systems Laboratory, formal "buddy pairs" are not generally used; all divers shall maintain awareness and provide safety for all other divers. Under no circumstance will less than two divers (including the lead diver) be used in any dive operation.
Generally dive personnel in a non-standard dive operation. Subjects are chosen and experiments performed in accordance with UMd standards for the use of human research subjects. Non-standard dive operations are performed in accordance with policies and procedures established in Section 6.
Given a complex test operation with a large number of divers, it is beneficial to appoint one person to serve as the communications conduit to the divers, either through the underwater speaker or the DiveComm wireless units. Specific instructions for messages should be given to the "CapCom" (taken from the spacecraft communicator position title at NASA's Mission Control) directly from the test director, or from other appointed responsible individuals. As always, Deck Chief communications take priority over other messages.
The SSL video system is controlled from the video area in the control room. For anything other than simple tests without recording requirements, one or more video controllers should be stationed to control underwater cameras, ensure tape recorders are operating correctly, switch views on request for operators at laboratory control stations, configure the audio communications system, and any other necessary audio-video support for the test operation.
Test requests may be submitted through either of two parallel paths. A test requestor internal to the Space Systems Laboratory should fill out the request form at <URL>. A test requestor external to the SSL should fill out the request form at <URL>.
In either case, the submission of the test request form automatically sends out e-mail to all NBRF dive personnel, advising them of an upcoming dive operation and soliticing volunteers for participation. If the test request was internally generated, the requestor should receive the e-mail responses and select the dive team from among the volunteers. If externally generated, the Diving Operations Manager will select the dive team for the external users.
Prior to a dive, the test requestor should create a test plan within the SSL diving data base system. The original test request may be automatically pulled into the system to begin the test plan process. Any changes (in divers, equipment, objectives, etc.) should then be entered directly into the test plan form. The completed test plan should then be reviewed and approved by the Facility Director or an appointed alternate.
For the purposes of NBRF data tracking, a "test plan" involves a single objective or major system. For example, a test involving two robotic systems in the water at the same time would have two active test plans. A tank maintenance activity with an opportunistic test of a robot at the same time would also have two test plans. In instances of multiple simultaneous tests, divers are entered and tracked on a single test plan, with notations on the other plans to refer to the plan used for diver tracking.
Immediately prior to any dive operation, all involved personnel shall meet together for a pre-dive briefing. This should consist of three sections. The test director should describe the test operations, outlining responsibilities of the personnel, expected activities, and other details related to the nominal test operation. The deck chief would then brief the assembled team on safety-related issues, including contingency plans and nominal operations under direct deck chief control, such as coordination of hoist operations. Finally, the lead diver will directly brief the dive team on planned operations, special hand signals, emergency planning, safety policies, and other issues related to underwater operations and safety.
At the start of dive operations, the test director should communicate to the deck chief that they are ready for the dive operation to begin. The deck chief then tells the divers they may enter the water. It is the responsibility of each diver to make contact with the deck chief upon entering or leaving the water; the deck chief logs the times of entry and exit onto the test plan. The deck chief also approves hoist operations, monitors the progress of the dive through surface viewing and underwater camera views, and may communicate with the divers through the underwater speaker system and/or the diver communications system.
Unlike open-water dive operations, activities in the NBRF are not based on buddy pairs. This is due to limited water volume, clear and unobstructed sight lines, and short-duration focused dive operations. It is expected that all divers will maintain a basic awareness of all other divers, and will initiate emergency rescue procedures when needed.
In the event of an emergency, the deck chief is reponsible for initiating and coordinating emergency response. This includes alerting all divers and surface personnel to the existence of an emergency, ascertaining the nature and severity of the emergency, deciding on which (if any) emergency response agencies to notify, stabilizing injuried personnel, initiating and coordinating first aid, and organizing and controlling surface activities in response to the emergency.
Following the completion of a dive operation, the deck chief should verify that all divers are correctly logged out of the water on the test plan, all hardware has been removed from the water, all equipment is correctly washed and returned to specified storage locations, and that the divers are refilling the air tanks in a nominal and safe manner. The test director is encouraged to use the SSL data base system to enter remarks on the outcome of the test (e.g., results, lessons learned) in the appropriate field of the test plan form. The test plan should then be immediately printed out, and the hard copy placed in the active dive test plan notebook (located at the deck chief station.)
Critical records to be maintaiined indefinitely in the laboratory include both electronic and paper copies of the completed test plans, including diver and vehicle water times; diver information, as listed in section 2.5; and maintenance logs on life support hardware, including tanks and regulators, as listed in section 5.1.7.