Commercial diving offshore is a branch of commercial diving, with divers working in support of the exploration and production sector of the oil and gas industry in places such as the Gulf of Mexico in the United States the North Sea in the United Kingdom and Norway and along the coast of Brazil. The work in this area of the industry includes maintenance of oil platforms and the building of underwater structures used in the production process.
For many newly qualified divers, this is the entry point to the industry. The lack of experienced divers and the excess of qualified divers within the industry push down wages for younger, less experienced divers beginning their careers. The low wages, relative inexperience of the workforce combined with difficult and dangerous operating conditions make offshore diving the most dangerous area of employment for professional divers. Workers often live and work on the platform or ship for several weeks at a time, working 12-hour shifts without any days off.
Equipment used for offshore diving tends to be surface supplied equipment but this does vary depending on the nature of the work and location. For instance Gulf of Mexico based divers may use wetsuits whilst North Sea divers need drysuits or even hot water suits due to the temperature of the water.[1]
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In Norway's sector of the North Sea, 17 divers died during a 20 year-period from 1967 — 11 individuals were British.[4]