ANSI shines a spotlight on Standards in action as they support safety, efficiency and well-being in interesting aspects of everyday life.
Daredevils and deep sea divers may want to add the United Arab Emirates to their bucket list – the world’s deepest pool recently opened in Dubai, setting a world record with a depth of 196 feet.
The massive indoor pool leads divers to an underwater world, featuring an abandoned sunken city with billiards, foosball, chess, and even an apartment building. Facility owners at Deep Dive Dubai say divers need several visits to see everything in the 14 million liters of fresh water. The pool is currently accessible by invitation only; bookings for the general public are expected to open soon.
Standards support scuba diving and swimmers, helping keep water lovers safe for different depths during underwater expeditions. Scuba divers complete training courses prior to diving in order to understand the basic principles, procedures, and skills of the sport that keep them safe. To support this, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has many standards that guide scuba diving training, as well as requirements for service providers in the field of recreational diving. They include:
ISO Technical Committee (TC) 228, Tourism and related services, developed these standards. TC 228 developed another document recently to address tourism practices in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. ISO/PAS 5643:2021, Tourism and related services — Requirements and guidelines to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the tourism industry, is a publicly available specification with guidance for the whole tourism value chain, which includes scuba diving and 19 other subsectors. ANSI is the U.S. member body to ISO.
While scuba diving is a leisure activity for many, it’s also an occupation. Commercial divers complete critical underwater tasks like building and maintaining structures for oil and gas production, gathering or finding evidence for law enforcement, and performing scientific research, among other jobs.
CSA Z275.2-2020, Occupational Safety Code for Diving Operations, provides guidelines for the safety of occupational divers. ANSI member and accredited standards developer CSA Group developed the standard.
Take a dive into the depths or wade into the shallow end – either way, standards help keep you safe as you submerge yourself into water for summer fun.
