In April 2020 IMCA launched its diving supervisor continuing professional development (CPD) scheme and app. Since then, the scheme has been highly acclaimed by supervisors, contractors and clients and has proven to be an effective tool for keeping supervisors up to date with the latest information and recent changes in IMCA guidance. To date, 97 CPD modules have been created and tested by industry experts.

IMCA is pleased to announce that the scheme has now been extended to trainee air and bell diving supervisors. Enrolment on the scheme is not mandatory for trainees. However, IMCA encourages trainees to join the scheme to keep them informed and up to date as they embark on this safety-critical career. Enrolment also prepares them for when they qualify as diving supervisors, at which point enrolment and successful completion of the latest units is then mandatory for their certificate to remain in-date.

Trainee Enrolment

Providers of approved training courses are required to submit trainee data to IMCA within five working days of course completion and it should be live in the IMCA system shortly thereafter. This has been a requirement since January 2023, but providers have also been invited to submit data covering the past three years.

Trainees wishing to access the diving supervisor CPD app are automatically sent details on the CPD scheme and how to register by email. To confirm registration and enable IMCA’s monitoring and quality control processes to be undertaken, trainees (for 2023 onwards) must complete a short online course evaluation survey. Once this is completed, they will automatically be invited to enrol for access to the CPD app via a restricted link. Verification of eligibility is based on trainee data held by IMCA, so trainees may need to contact their provider if the data is not yet in the IMCA system.

Trainee diving supervisors are permitted free access to the app for a period of six months. From 1 July 2023 this will be six months from the last day of the training course. Those who attended courses prior to this but are still holding a valid certificate will be given free access until the end of 2023. After this time an annual fee of £100 (GBP) will apply, in line with the annual revalidation fee for IMCA diving supervisor certification.

Verification and Progress Sharing

Members are strongly encouraged to use the IMCA verification portal at www.imca-int.com/verify to ensure that the certificates presented to them are genuine and that CPD, where required, is in-date. For trainees, certificates issued by providers of IMCA-approved courses can now be verified via this portal in addition to all IMCA-issued certificates.

As CPD is not mandatory for trainees, CPD progress is not included in the verification results. However, users of the system can share their progress directly via the CPD app where appropriate.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

Related Guidance

• IMCA D 013 IMCA offshore diving supervisor and life support technician certification schemes.