Diving Deep into Danger

It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the world—working as a deep-sea diver:

“Most offshore divers aspire to work saturation jobs (‘Sat is where it’s at,’ says Newsum), but after graduating diving school and passing an extensive physical, a diver must begin as a ‘tender,’ or apprentice diver. A tender will serve on the support staff for deeper divers, and work at depths as shallow as four feet of water. Often a tender will assist on jobs involving oil pipelines, which tend to be buried four to six feet below the mud line in order to avoid contact with ships or marine life. A tender might be called upon to bury a repaired pipe, using hand jets to displace the bottom so that the pipe will sink belowground. Or he might excavate a pipe, in preparation for a more experienced diver to repair it. An apprentice makes about $40,000 a year.”

Published: Jan 19, 2013
Length: 18 minutes (4,582 words)
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