New guidelines for DP diving and umbilical management

Published on 4 July 2023

IMCA is pleased to announce the publication of IMCA D 010 Rev. 4 Diving Operations from Vessels Operating in a Dynamically Positioned Mode and IMCA D 078 Guidance on Diving Umbilical Management.

The two documents are closely related, and to conduct Dynamic Positioning (DP) diving operations safely, it is essential to follow the guidance contained in both publications.

All sections of IMCA D 010 were closely reviewed during the revision process and the guidance now represents the latest industry thinking on the safe and effective management of DP diving projects.

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Bryan McGlinchy
Diving Consultant
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Important topics that have been critically reassessed and updated during the review of IMCA D 010 include diving activity operational planning, DP alert response arrangements, vessel movement limitations, shallow water DP diving operations, and diving within an anchor pattern or close to a subsea asset. There is also an important new section covering the need for additional industrial mission familiarisation for DP Operators working on Diving Support Vessels.

IMCA D 010 no longer contains detailed guidance on the management of diving umbilicals deployed from dynamically positioned vessels and refers the reader to IMCA D 078 for comprehensive guidance.

New document IMCA D 078 Guidance on Diving Umbilical Management brings together everything that industry has learned about this crucial subject and presents it in one place. Poor diving umbilical management has been, and continues to be, a significant causal factor in many serious diving incidents.

The document explains the philosophy underpinning the safe deployment and tending of diving umbilicals from conventionally moored or dynamically positioned (DP) vessels and static structures. It also describes in detail the hazards associated with dangerous machinery below the waterline. This is essential information for those involved in the planning of DP diving projects.

The sections of IMCA D 078 that deal with the calculation of appropriate excursion umbilical length restrictions when diving from DP vessels contain the most thorough and accurate guidance ever produced on the subject. Using a series of new formulae and diagrams, the full three-dimensional nature of the challenge is accurately modelled in diving industry guidance for the first time. Appendix one contains an invaluable set of distance calculation worked examples that help to bring everything together.

IMCA Diving Manager, Bryan McGlinchy, said: “IMCA D 078 represents a step-change in the quality of the guidance available to industry on the subject of diving umbilical management.

“Any diver who has entered the water from a DP diving platform will fully appreciate the critical need for umbilical length restrictions to have been calculated correctly. There is no room for error. Using IMCA D 078, offshore engineering and diving specialists will be able to work confidently together to calculate correct safe umbilical lengths for all planned DP diving operations.”

“I firmly believe that the publication of IMCA D 078 will significantly improve the quality of diving umbilical management in the offshore diving industry.”

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