Standards Committee

The Standards Committee shall advise the Board of Directors and the President in the development, review and revision of standards and procedures for safe scientific diving certifications, and for safe scientific diving programs. The Standards Committee Chair or President shall appoint the Standards Committee.  The Standards Committee shall:

  • Maintain a Manual of Standards for Scientific Diving Certification and Operation of Scientific Diving Programs to respond to the needs of the membership and the scientific diving community in general;
  • Periodically review the standards and procedures for scientific diving, solicit recommendations from organizational member, and recommend to the Board of Directors revisions, changes, deletions or updates;
  • Recommend to the Board of Directors and the appropriate standing committees subject matter for symposia and workshops to educate the membership and others in matters pertaining to the standards and procedures for scientific diving;
  • Recommend to the Board of Directors subject matter for the research and development of standards and procedures for safe scientific diving;
  • Review the proposed diving safety manual of applicants for Organizational Membership, and make appropriate recommendations to the Membership Committee;
  • Review the particular changes and modifications proposed by any Organizational Member for its own diving safety program or Manual for Diving Safety, and make appropriate recommendations to the Board of Directors;
  • Participate in on-site visitations or other forms of inspections of the scientific diving policies, standards, procedures, programs and practices of an Organizational Member, as directed by the Board of Directors;
  • Distribute to the membership the revisions, changes, deletions or updates of standards and practices for scientific diving that have been approved by the Board of Directors;
  • Respond to the inquiries of individuals and organizations, both members and non members, regarding policies, standards, procedures, programs and practices for safe scientific diving and emergency related matters;
  • Represent the safe scientific diving goals and purposes of the American Academy of Underwater Science, as directed by the Board of Directors, before other organizations and government agencies with corresponding or parallel interests in the development and administration of safe diving standards;
  • Submit to the Treasurer when requested an annual budget and cost accounting of the work of the Diving Standards Committee; and
  • Perform other functions pertaining to scientific diving standards that the President or the Board of Directors may request from time to time.

 

Notes from Committee:

  • If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact AAUS at [email protected] or the committee chair.
  • Organizational members need to review their standards manuals on a yearly basis and submit any changes to [email protected]

 

Near Miss Reporting

An effective safety culture forms the backbone of any successful and sustainable scientific diving program. The nature of scientific diving—complex, often unpredictable, and conducted in environments that inherently pose risks—demands a proactive and communicative approach to safety. This requires more than compliance with rules and regulations; it hinges on fostering an environment where every diver feels empowered and obliged to participate in the ongoing conversation about risk, mitigation, and improvement. At the center of this culture are clear objectives, structured briefings and debriefings, and robust near-miss reporting systems. While accidents are rare, near misses are not—and therein lies their value. Reporting enables teams and organizations to learn from incidents that, by chance or quick action, did not result in harm.

As you examine the 2025 AAUS Standards Update, you will notice updates in the following areas:
Section 2.70 - Record Keeping Requirements
Appendix 8 - AAUS Statistics Collection Criteria and Definitions

The reporting of Near-Misses is different from general statistics & incident reporting in a couple key ways:

It is not required. Currently, the AAUS is not requiring reporting of Near-Misses and is optional for all OMs of the Academy.

It is submitted through a Google Form. We will be treating Near-Miss data differently than our full incident reporting procedures at this time.

Near-Misses can be reported by anyone. We strongly encourage Near-Miss reporting directly to the DSO and DCB and  encourage OMs to develop mechanisms for easy reporting within their programs so scientific divers feel empowered to report these types of occurrences.

Report anytime. Near-Miss reporting does not need to be isolated to end of year statistics. (**As a reminder, all incident types can be reported to the AAUS anytime during the reporting cycle.** )