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AND HYPERBARIC ACTIVITY IN NATIONAL RANGE. Waiting for an itemized law - at present under consideration- protecting and regulating the Diver and Hyperbaric Technician's categories, some excerpts of the laws operating at present on the territory are believed to be sufficiently close to diving and hyperbaric sectors as well, as far as they are oriented on prevention and protection of physical health of all the workers involved in the foretold sectors. First of all, a Decree of the President of the Republic (DPR) can be pointed out, which, though dealing with the category of workers subjected to the breathing of compressed air in pressure-cofferdams (caisson-men), is perfectly updated to the objective reality of commercial divers and hyperbaric workers, being those categories subjected to the breathing of gas-mixtures and being equally exposed to the risks connected with the intake and release of inert gas (nitrogen), bound by the same physical laws on gas-exchanges and taking place with the same natural methods and precise technical/application procedures. This DPR regulates the working activity and prescribes safety norms for the workers breathing compressed air introduced by pressure into the foretold "caissons", with the same characteristics as the breathing gases used by commercial diver, though delivered by hard containers carried on the shoulders (bottles) and let into the mouth through pressure-reducers/distributors of compressed air, as well as the persons in control of use of such "caissons" (hyperbaric chambers), who must ensure the physical safety of the workers exposed to risks derived from breathing compressed air and to embolism, though everything happens in the orthodox observance of methods, techniques and application calculations of N2 desaturation. Referring to: - D.P.R. n. 321, 20/03/1956, concerning the prevention norms of accident at work, by breathing compressed air. It is to be considered: D.P.R. 321/56 at art.1, titled - Application area - says that [...] this Decree is to be applied to jobs executed with compressed air, by subordinate employees, in conformity with art. 3 Decree of the President of the Republic n.547, 27/04/1955 [...] And therefore referred to the categories of commercial diversa nd hyperbaric workers as well. The norms of this Decree must be observed by those pursuing the activities issued in art. 1, the managers, the persons in charge, the assigned workers, the physicians [...] Same as above. Art. 8 prescribes the presence of an hyperbaric chamber for possible therapeutic re - compression of workers exposed to disorders deriving from breathing of compressed air, from the maximum pressure at work, equal to 1,5 atmospheres (bathymetry -15) and indicates that [...] the re - compression therapeutic chamber must be large enough to contain at least a folding bed and to allow the sanitary staff to take care of the injured person. That means that the hyperbaric chamber must be provided with a double-room, isolated by special hatches, to guarantee the technical and sanitary assistance inside of it. Hyperbaric chambers not provided with such internal assistance-facility are to be considered unreliable and old fashioned, and must therefore be alienated. In art. 11, paragraph 2 it is prescribed that [...] The yard in which pressure - working activities superior to 1,5 atmospheres are performed, must be equally equipped with the necessary means, needed to subject to therapeutic re- compression the workers suffering from disorders connected with compressed air (D.S. Decompression Sickness). Therefore, going with the local first-aid station, a re-compression chamber must be arranged, meeting requirements established in art.8 [...] (chamber provided with double hyperbaric room, isolated by special hatches). That means that the yards employing technical personnel subjected to breathing of compressed air - starting from bathymetry -15 - must be equipped with the hyperbaric chambers, meeting the functional characteristics described in art.8. In art. 12, paragraph 1, it is specified that [...] a nurse must always be present on the working place, while the workers perform their activity in compressed air and during decompression [...] and in paragraph 5 [...] For pressures over 2,5 atmospheres (from bathymetry -25 on) the Inspectorate of Labor can prescribe the presence of a physician at the yard or in the next surroundings [...] and finally in art.28, paragraph 5, it is prescribed that [...] the timing of compression and decompression - by watch end reading the manometers - must be done by EXPERTS [...]
Considerations: a) - DPR 321/56 applies to work with the use of compressed air, done by subordinate employees; b) - the managers, the persons in charge and the assigned employees must observe the norms indicated in DPR 321/56; c) - the hyperbaric chamber must be large enough to allow the assistance inside of it (double room separated by special hatches); d) - the minimum bathymetry needed for such an assistance and/or therapy hyperbaric chamber is -15; e) - the work performed in hyperbaric condition, using compressed air for breathing is also subjected to the vocational qualification of the persons in charge of the therapeutic or operative decompressions; the title of EXPERT indicates the possess of the needed professionalism and responsibility during extremely risky activities. Everything examined until now is perfectly close to the objective reality of a job to be performed in "dry or wet" hyperbaric condition. Trying to avoid - with a far too simple analogy - to put on the same level the workers operating in "caissons" with those operating underwater,
- D.M. (Ministry Decree) 13.01.1979 , titled - "Establishment of the commercial divers category in local service - distinguishing the professional underwater activity from the one performed by divers and regulating the national underwater activities. This D.M. says [...]Considered that the commercial diver's activity differs from the one performed by divers in its technique, as well as in the means used during the performance itself, referred to the traffic needs, the necessity to recognize the category and to regulate its employ, - heard the Ministry of Health; heard the Ministry of Education; heard the Office and the Minister of Regions [...] ESTABLISHES the category of commercial divers in local/harbor serviceand subordinates the fulfillment of the underwater activity to previous enrollment in the Registration Board hold by the Harbor Office (Coast Guard). In art. 3 point 6 this enrollment is prescribed under previous possession of particular vocational qualifications under the current national and regional accomplishment laws, better described in: - D.M. 02-02.1982 Official Gazette Italian Republic n°65/08.03.1982 titled - Amendment of Ministry Decree 13.01.1979, establishing the category of commercial divers in local service, which says [...] Being it necessary to adopt a closer expression for the possibilities provided for in the legislation referring to vocational training for the certificates of professional qualification, it establishes that point 6 of art. 3 of D.M./13.01.1979 be thus amended: to be owner of a diploma of estimator assigned to underwater work or a diploma of vocational qualification personal degree with enclosed Technical Diver Operator (commercial diver) released by State- or legally recognized Institutes, or to be owner of the certificate obtained at the end of vocational training courses, carried on according to the conditions established by art. 5, law 21, December 1978, n°845 and by the respective regional accomplishment lawsomissis...For the citizens of other Countries the possession of a title recognized as valid by the legislation of their Country of origin is hold for valid for the enrollment (in Registration Boards of the Harbor Offices) for the execution of the professional low depth activity (bathymetry -50) within the harbors and ports. [...]omissis... Precise titles of vocational qualifications are therefore necessary to perform underwater activity on national territory, titles obtained in observance of a special law, which, from 1978, "absorbed" what has been carried on by the Ministry of Education, through its Provincial unions for Technical Training and by the Ministry of Labor through its Vocational Training Centers, submitting to Italian Regions the regulation of the training courses' accomplishment. Referring to: -General Policy Law n. 845, 21.12.1978 in matter of Vocational training which, in art.2 titled - in re of Vocational training, says [...] The vocational training enterprises are a service of public interest oriented on the assurance of formative interventions' system, aiming at the diffusion of theoretical and practical knowledge, needed to perform professional roles and oriented on the first settling in, the qualification and re-qualification, the specializing and the updating of the workers in a permanent formation - program. The vocational training activities are addressed to all the citizens who have performed their compulsory education or have been released from it and may concern any production-sector, be it subordinate work, autonomous work, professional or associate-workers performance. Also foreigners are admitted to the vocational training activities, in observance of international agreements and of the current laws [...] The professional roles, the reference categories and their manifestation sectors are clear. In enforcement of specific directives promoted by EEC, a recent Legislative Decree appears as well to be perfectly close to the reality of underwater activity, more and more as it widens the public and private expression sectors for commercial divers, amongst who we find Diver Trainers ad Diver Environmental Guides. Even the mentioned "users of school training services" may by all means be found amongst the students attending sporting diving courses, who, although amateur-like, are to be considered "unpaid workers" during the school period, and as such, are part of the category which must be covered by insurance against accidents at work, regulated by special norms of the Labor Inspectorate and national laws, made concrete at INAIL (National Insurance Institute for Accidents at Work). Referring to: - Legislative Decree n°626, 19/09/1994 - Enforcement of Directives 89/391 EEC, 89/654 EEC, 89/655 EEC, 89/656 EEC, 90/269 EEC, 90/270 EEC, 90/394 EEC and 90/679 EEC,referring to the amelioration of the worker's safety and health on their working place, which at art.1 paragraph 1 titled "Application area" says [...]This Legislative Decree establishes measures for the protection of the worker's health and safety while working in all the activity sectors, private or public [...]and in art.2, paragraph 1, l.a) - titled: "Definitions" states the meaning of [...] worker: person who works for an employer, except those assigned to familiar and household chores, with subordinated and special professional employer-employee relations. The partner-workers of cooperatives and societies are equalized and the users of service of vocational guidance or school education, academic or vocational omissis.The students of instruction and academic Institutes and those who attend vocational training courses [...] and in art.2, paragraph 1, l.b), specifies the meaning of [...] employer: each physical, juridical person or public subject entertaining an employer-employee relation with the worker and carrying the responsibility of the concern or factory [...] If the attendants of a sporting diving course are rightly to be considered workers because of them using a school training service, it is also true that the employer identifies himself in the Diver Trainer or teacher and, as such, must as well be owner of the necessary and prescribed professionalism, shown in his vocational qualification title, as in General Policy Law 845/78. It is clear that NO license or certificate of any kind, obtained from any sporting/amateur-like national organization, though referred to national Federations or Leagues belonging to CONI, can ever confer to such certificates an equal or similar title of professional kind, as prescribed by the current laws. Today underwater teaching is widely practiced by persons not provided with professional titles qualifying them to pursue the profession of Diver Instructor (Trainer) or Environmental Tourist Guide. This professional activity appears therefore totally illegitimate, for it lacks not only in a legal title needed to hold a course, but also in the necessary professionalism certified by the current laws in this special subject, implying responsibilities, even of penal (criminal) kind towards a profession which needs a special qualification issued by the State (Ministry Decrees Merchant Navy 13.01.1979 and 02.02.1982 and General Policy Law 845/78). A subsequent Legislative Decree widens the field of the Legislative Decree 626/94. Referring to: - Legislative Decree n° 242/19.03.1996 titled - Amendments and Integration to Legislative Decree 19.09.1994, n° 626, containing execution of community directives concerning the amelioration of safety and health of the workers at their working place, which in art. 2 (definitions), paragraph 2, l.a), mentions explicitly what is meant by [...]
And the underwater workers, in one with the "users of school education service", appear even too much exposed to risks derived from PHYSICAL and BIOLOGICAL agents, peculiar to underwater activity of any kind (asphyxiated and syncopal conditions, Decompression Sickness, High Pressure Nervous Syndrome (H.P.N.S.) a.s.o.). For those, also, the prescription in DPR 321/56, the availability of hyperbaric chamber from bathymetry -15 on included, appears perfectly suitable. Art. 2, paragraph 1, l.b) explains the meaning of [...]Employer: the subject holder of the employer-employee relation with the worker or, in any case, the subject who, depending on the kind of the concern, carries the responsibility of the latter, or of the productive unity, as described in l. i), because holder of decisional and economic powers. In Public Administrations, as in art. 1, paragraph 2 of Legislative Decree 03.02.1993, n° 29, the employer is described as the manager who has the operating power, or the functionary with no managerial title, only in case the latter be in charge of an office with operative autonomy [...] The diver Trainer or the Environmental or Tourist's Diver Guide seem therefore to easily fall within the category of employer, who carries the "responsibility of the concern" or has the "operating power" (owners of diving centers or hired persons or autonomous workers), because they produce a teaching "service or good" of underwater financially autonomous attendance (fee of the diving course or the diving attendance). In art. 2, paragraph 2, l.i) the explanation is included [...] Productive unity: factory or structure oriented on the production of services or goods, with financial autonomy and functional technician [...] The subsequent Legislative Decree prescribes the obligation of the certificate obtained at the end of the courses, targeted on safety and issued by the competent Regions, in order to endow such working figures of the necessary professionalism needed to guarantee the physical safety of all the persons involved. Referring to: - Legislative Decree n° 494 / 14.08.1996, titled - Amendments and Integration to Legislative Decrees n° 626/94 and 242/96, which in art 10, paragraph 1) says [...]The project-coordinator and the execution-coordinator of the work must be owners of following requirements [...]and in paragraph 2) says [...] the subjects in paragraph 1) must also be owners of a frequency certificate of a specific safety-course organized by the Regions by means of the technical structures operating within the prevention and the vocational training sector [...] That means being in possess of the needed professionalism, demonstrated by a vocational training title, obtained in observance of the already quoted General Policy Law n° 845/78, operating on the Territory to pursue the profession of Diving Instructor or Diving Tourist's Attendant or Guide. the enclosure no.2 of the above mentioned legislative decree no.494/96, entitled "List of jobs implying particular risks for the safety and health of workers" of which art.11,paragraph 1, page.1 expressly cites: "UNDER-WATER JOBS WITH SCUBA" and "JOBS IN COMPRESSED AIR CAISSONS" diversifying the two categories of workers. Therefore all the underwater jobs with snorkels, disregarding the kind of operation and/or the tools used, carried out both in an autonomous and subordinate form both in the public and private sector (Legislative Decree no.626/94, art.1, parag.1) can be done only by a staff having the professional requisites contained in the general policy law no.845/78) On 30.07.1997 the Region Tuscany issued the Regional Law n° 54 titled "Discipline of the Professional Environmental Diving Guide" in enforcement of art. 11 of Law 17.03.1083, n° 217, titled "General Policy Law for Tourism and Interventions for Development and Qualification of the Tourist's Offer". An Enrollment Register for this sector is in preparation, together with the institution of special professional and vocational courses for the achieving of the title of "Environmental Diving Guide", reckoned to be necessary to execute an underwater working activity, though addressed to a category of "amateurs". The needed requirements for the admission are: a) - a minimum of two years of fiscally demonstrated activity within the period 01.01.1992 - 25.08.1997; b) - achievement of the vocational qualification within the period 01.01.1987 - 25.08.1997 in courses organized by Tuscany Region for profiles regarding the specialty prescribed by the law; c) - possess of qualification certificate of Guide or Attendant or Instructor in the specialty, released by one of the following national sporting Federations (or leagues): F.I.P.S.A.S. On 12.09.1997 the Region Sardinia issued a specific law titled "Norms for the Discipline of the Professions of Diving Instructor and Diving Guide with breathing apparatuses with tourist and recreational purposes", putting even the foretold categories amongst those working figures, for whom it has issued special norms for the physical safety of the foretold category of workers and of the users of this professional service with amateur and recreational purposes. The formative courses, also necessary to pursue the diving working activity, are at present in deliberative phase. |