Professional diver in Poland - who is he and what does he do?

Tough guys, adventurers, free spirits, rebels… this is how professional divers are often perceived. This is how we are perceived by the society and people wishing to enter this environment. But is this the truth about professional divers in Poland? Let’s debunk a few myths about these people, who they are and what they really do.

Let’s start with who the professional diver candidates are. They are usually young men in their twenties, sometimes divers, but most often guests who have never been underwater and have no idea what it is to work underwater. They are attracted to this profession by the potential freedom and the promise of big and fast salaries. The second group of candidates are recreational divers who want to experience great adventure underwater. The last group are technical workers of various professions, who have met divers during their work and want to gain further qualifications. Few of them make it to the course, and those who do?

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You can do your professional diver course at one of the professional diver training centres in Poland. A list of these schools is published on the website of the Maritime Office in Gdynia. When such a candidate collects money for the (quite expensive) course, he/she undergoes the first selection. Usually classes on such a course are very different from what these young people imagined. Not everyone is suited to it. Some of them realise it on their own, others have to take an exam.

Once the candidate – now already a young 3rd class diver – gets the coveted diploma, it’s time to find a job. Here comes the next selection. The world of professionals is very hermetic and getting into it is not easy. Then you have to prove to your colleagues in the team that you deserve to work with them. This is why many of those with a professional diver’s diploma never make it to work in this profession. On the other hand, those who luckily find a job here go through another selection process.

The confrontation with reality and the first assignment is often very difficult. The young diver realizes that what he has undertaken has very little to do with what he imagined. It is a very hard job and not at all as well paid as they told you “on land”. Apart from his strength, or more likely his physical endurance, his psyche is put to the test. The relatively dangerous work, usually in water with zero visibility, complete darkness and permanent cold, is a shock to many young people. Also, uneasy fellow divers mean that most young divers end their careers on a few assignments.

The variety of work undertaken by professional divers in Poland is enormous, but it is worth describing a few of the most common. On rivers, we assist in the construction of bridges, to be specific, we clean and deepen places for bridge pillars. Such things are done with an air ejector, i.e. a large suction pipe. Rivers are also fairways. During the construction of such tracks, divers lay a geotextile fabric on the bottom, commonly called “rag”, which strengthens the bottom, and on which a stone backfill is then made. This is how the banks of the fairway are reinforced. If rivers, then hydroelectric power stations too. The tasks of divers at hydroelectric power stations include technical inspections, cleaning and repair work. This includes drilling, underwater torch cutting, concreting, welding and many other tasks that are difficult to describe in such a short text. In ports, divers’ tasks include the inspection and repair of quays, reinforcing the bottom with gabions or special mattresses and excavating navigational obstacles. Occasionally, there may be work related to the excavation of sunken wrecks and any work aimed at demining the waterways.

We now come to the ships. Most often, bottom inspections are carried out on ships, leaks are searched for and film and photographic documentation is taken for further repairs. Looking even further out to sea, there is the so-called Offshore, which means working on wind farms and oil rigs. Poland does not have wind farms yet, and there is only one drilling platform, and in order to get a job there you need to improve your diving qualifications over several years, and finally become a certified diver. I have not listed all the jobs that professional divers do because there are too many, but this short list should give you an idea of our work.

Finally, a few words about what guys like the most, i.e. diving equipment. During underwater work we use mainly diving helmets. Usually it is some model of helmet by Kirby&Morgan. We don’t use wings or jackets, only waistcoats, on which a bailout cylinder and lead ballast is mounted. On our feet we have flippers or boots with lead inserts. Air is supplied to the diver through a so-called umbilical, which also contains wires for communication, light and camera and the so-called Pneumo, thanks to which we know at what depth the diver is. Such an umbilical is connected to a diving board, thanks to which the underwater work manager contacts the diver, controls the gas supply, and often observes what the diver is doing thanks to a helmet-mounted camera. For lighter work, full-face masks are used, with communication. The diver then breathes from a cylinder on his back.

So who are the people who have gone through so many life selections and taken up such a hard and dangerous profession. For sure they are very resilient, hardworking people who are not afraid to take on challenges. They must be people who love to dive and love their profession, and also have a knack for technical tasks. These people often pay a high price for choosing such a profession. Working on a constant trip away from family and home, the frequent irregularity of orders, is a big problem and not suitable for everyone. On top of that, the body wears out very quickly, with aching joints, back, ear infections and many other ailments. This is why there are so few old professional divers, but these few have amazing stories to tell…