DFO Diving Safety Program Overview

Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) maintains a diving safety program in support of its mandate to ensure the sustainable development and safe use of Canada's oceans, fresh waters, and aquatic resources. The DFO Diving Safety Program is administered by the Science Sector at DFO, and is headquartered at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Scores of DFO research scientists, biologists, and technicians with diverse sets of research interests and backgrounds use diving as a tool to study and probe the underwater realm. Diving provides scientists with an opportunity for direct observation and underwater experimentation, and produces meaningful data that could not be obtained by other methods.

DFO authorizes over 100 employees to dive across Canada each year, and consistently enjoys an excellent diving safety record. The Departmental Diving Safety Procedures (DDSP) captures the requirements of the Canada Labour Code Part II and the Canadian Occupational Safety & Health Regulation on Diving Operations, and establishes safe work procedures specific to DFO diving activities. In order to dive under DFO procedures, divers must be medically fit to dive, trained and properly equipped for the tasks being performed, and on an annual basis demonstrate that they are competent to perform the types of dives in which they participate.