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Preliminary Incident Report

Date: 27th July 2009Vessel: Da Li HaoLocation: Champion Field, East BrunieTime / Date of Incident: 20:00 26th July 27, 2009Type of Incident: DCIDiver: Mark Mah

Diving Supervisor: Joe KissickDiving Superintendent: James Rigney

Brief Summary of events leading to and incident:The diver was working in 62 installing a riser clamp and the work that hewas undertaking would be best described as arduous i.e. using Cum-A-Longs, rigging etc. The diver completed 67 minutes bottom time and inaccordance with our policy of; Up one depth and Up one time wasdecompressed on a USN Surface 02 80/ 85 table.

The diver had a controlled and un-eventful ascent and arrived on surface and

was re-pressurised to 50 within 2 minutes. The Chamber operator wasinstructed by the supervisor to decompress the diver on the USN 80/85 tableand the chamber operator claculated the decompression profile inaccordance with this data and included a 10 minute stop at 50 which is inaccordance with our site-specific procedures.

Unfortunatley, the chamber operator mis-calculated the 40 stop and noteddown arrival at 40 and departure from 40 over a 10 minute period insteadof the 20 minute period. The chamber operator handed his surfacedecompression record sheet to the diving supervisor who confirmed that thetimes noted were in fact correct.

The diver was given 10 minutes at 50 on 02, the diver was then brought to40 where he undertook a 5 minute air break, the diver was then given 02 forten minutes at 40 (instead of 20 minutes) and was then given a 10 minutebleed to the surface.

Upon arriving at surface the diver queries his decompression profile and itwas discovered that a 10 minute ommission had been made. The diver

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queried the ommission and was told on several occassions by the supervisorthat he need not worry as he was only 4 minutes short of his actual 02time when one deletes the up one and up one policy. The supervisor statedthat the diver could be decompressed on the USN 70/90 S02 table whichrequires a 15 minute 02 stop at 40. The supervisor then explained that

given that this was the case and that given the diver had undertaken a 10minute stop and 50 then, this would take care of the 5 minute shortfall thatapplies to the 70/90 table i.e. 15 min at 40 minus 10 minutes equals adeficit of 5 minutes. The diver disputed this theory and was again met withthe reponse from the supervisor that all was well and that he had nothing toworry about. The diver left the dive van disatified leaving the chamberoperator along with the other supervisor (David Gavagan) and thesupervisor.

The diver at this point started feeling unwell with his symptoms being anincreasing pain in his left shoulder and a feeling of dizziness.

The chamber operator and the supervisor had a discussion regardinginfroming the superintendent about the ommitted decompression and thesupervisor was adamant that all was well and the the superintendent shouldnot be informed about the matter. The chamber operator then took it on hisown initiative to take the surface decompression record to thesuperintendent and inform him of what had happened.

The chamber operator went to the superintendent and informed him of thecircumstances and the superintendent then ordered the diver from the water(Abe Louwe) and instructed the supervisor to prepare the diver (Mark Mah)

and the chamber for a Table 6 treatment.

The diver was blown down at 20:32 and the diving superintendent wasblown-down at 20:35 and conducted a neurological examination of the diver.The diving superintendent concluded that the diver had sound neurlogicalfunction and during his examination, the diver reported his pain in his leftshoulder.

The diving superintendent surfaced at 21:00 and swapped-out with the DMT(Allen Tay) who remained with the diver during his treatment. The diver andattendent surfaced at 01:20 and attended the superintendent for the

purposes of an inteview. The divers and the superintendent then presentedat the infirmary where an examination of the diver was conducted by theShips Doctor. The doctor diagnosed the diver as being neurologically andphysically fit, it was then decided that the diver would remain with the DMTfor an additional 2 hours and then report back to the Doctor before going tobed.

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The diver and the DMT presented to the Doctor at 04:30 and the Doctoragain diagnosed the diver as being physically and neurologically fit. Thediver then retired and is sleeping at this time i.e. 09:00.

James Rigney

Diving SuperintendentCal DiveDa Li Hao