Registration and Revalidation of South African Diving Qualifications

The South African commercial diving regulator, the Department of Employment and Labour, has announced details of the registration and revalidation process that all commercial divers, diving supervisors, chamber operators and diving instructors holding training certificates issued by the department are required to complete in order to ensure continuing validation of their certification.

The scheme has been developed to ensure that commercial diving personnel certified by the Department of Employment and Labour are maintaining their skills and abilities.

There is a now a legal requirement under the Commercial Diving Regulations 2022 for commercial diving personnel listed above to register with the Department of Employment and Labour.  Once registered, the individual’s training certificate will be valid for a period of four years after which revalidation will be required.  Successful registration and revalidation may require applicants to provide the regulator with evidence of their current competency; this could be achieved via personal logbooks or some other equally effective means.

All qualifications for the roles listed above issued by the Department of Employment and Labour before 20 May 2022 will be valid until 06 June 2024.  Registration and revalidation will be required for individuals to work beyond this date.

Full details of the registration and revalidation process and the requirements for each category of training certificate can be found in the document titled:

• Registration criteria for diving entities in accordance with the commercial diving regulations 2022.

A copy of this is hosted on the same web page as this IMCA Information Note.

The application form for registration as diver/supervisor/instructor/diving school/chamber operator can be found in the document titled:

• Annexure F Registration Form (Regulation 3(1)), Application for Registration as Diver/Supervisor/Instructor/‌Diving School/Chamber Operator/Contractor.

A copy of this document is hosted on the same web page as this Information Note.

Details of the applicable fees can be accessed here:

Government Gazette Staatskoerant, Republic of South Africa, Regulation Gazette No. 11465, Vol. 685, 29 July 2022, No. 47109

For more information, please contact Given Aphane at [email protected]