Dive Safety Officer

Position Type & Salary

• Full Time
• $24/hour Position Summary This position is responsible for administering the day-to-day dive program for the Aquarium under the direction of the General Curator and in coordination with the Dive Control Board. The General Curator retains final authority over Life Sciences operations, animal care direction, personnel decisions, and institutional dive program approvals. The Dive Safety Officer is responsible for supporting a safe, compliant, and well-documented dive program. Primary responsibilities include conducting required dive training and diver checkouts; evaluating and documenting diver proficiency; writing, maintaining, and updating dive-related SOPs; maintaining dive records; coordinating annual emergency dive drills; and ensuring life-support diving equipment is inspected, maintained, serviced, and documented in accordance with manufacturer, regulatory, facility, and industry standards. This position supports animal care and habitat maintenance through safe dive operations and works closely with the General Curator, Animal Care Managers, Life Sciences staff, and the Dive Control Board to maintain compliance with applicable AZA standards, OSHA regulations, facility policies, and current industry-accepted dive practices.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Support and supervise staff as it relates to the dive program of the Life Sciences Department to ensure the highest level of safety, courtesy, education, efficiency, and operational readiness.
• Administer the facility dive program under the direction of the General Curator and in coordination with the Dive Control Board.
• Conduct, document, and maintain AZA, OSHA, and facility-required dive trainings, in-water skill evaluations, diver checkouts, refresher trainings, and remediation plans as applicable.
• Evaluate diver proficiency in an in-water setting and provide recommendations to the General Curator and Dive Control Board regarding diver authorization, restrictions, remediation, or additional training needs.
• Write, maintain, and update dive-related SOPs, checklists, emergency procedures, and supporting documentation as approved by the General Curator and/or Dive Control Board.
• Assist in the development, maintenance, and implementation of the facility Dive Manual, including the diving safety section, diver qualification standards, equipment standards, emergency procedures, and dive operation procedures.
• Develop, maintain, and train divers on tank-specific dive emergency plans for each habitat or tank into which divers enter.
• Coordinate, conduct, document, and evaluate at least one live-action emergency dive safety drill annually. Identify corrective actions and provide recommendations to the General Curator and Dive Control Board.
• Oversee and ensure the safety readiness of diving projects and operations through pre-dive planning, hazard identification, diver briefings, equipment checks, and post-dive documentation.
• Ensure a designated person-in-charge is identified for each dive operation in accordance with applicable OSHA requirements and facility policy.
• Maintain a complete understanding of applicable AAUS, OSHA, AZA, and industry-accepted dive practices as they relate to aquarium dive operations.
• Maintain positive representation to professional agencies, institutions, and various committees.
• Ensure compliance with health and safety standards in accordance with local municipality, state, federal, AZA, OSHA, and facility rules and regulations.
• Maintain animal care and habitat compliance with facility-specific policies and procedures related to diving.
• Manage the diving schedule of Life Sciences staff to ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained for all scheduled and non-scheduled dive operations.
• Maintain animal welfare and safety during dives alongside the animal care team.
• Maintain, inspect, coordinate service for, and document all life-support diving equipment, including but not limited to regulators, cylinders, buoyancy devices, masks, weights, exposure protection, safety equipment, communication equipment, and associated dive support gear.
• Monitor diving inventory and departmental expenditures to reduce loss and waste, control costs, and accurately communicate equipment and supply needs.
• Maintain up-to-date electronic records on dive operations, diver certifications, training, checkouts, emergency drills, medical fitness documentation, dive logs, equipment inspections, service records, incident reports, and corrective actions.
• While diving, observe and report potential animal health, habitat, equipment, or water quality concerns to the appropriate Animal Care Manager, General Curator, veterinary staff, or LSS representative.
• Communicate observed animal health or habitat concerns to the Animal Care Managers and General Curator.
• Coordinate with Management in emergency situations to minimize damage, loss, or injury to guests, team members, animals, or company property.
• Assist in the preparation of periodic dive reports for Life Sciences Department activities.
• Perform daily dive requirements.
• Other duties as assigned Experience, Skills, & Qualifications
• Two years + in an assisted animal husbandry position required.
• One year + in a similar management role required.
• PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) or equivalent required.
• Instructor level First Aid, Emergency O2 and AED certification required.
• Strong technical skills related to dive equipment required.
• Working proficiency with basic hand and power tools is preferred.
• Dive program leadership in an aquarium preferred.
• Experience in the care of flora and fauna in a public aquarium setting preferred.
• Experience working with relevant authorities and accrediting associations preferred.
• Competency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience managing large teams preferred.
• Exceptional leadership skills and proven experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong listening, presentation and decision-making skills.
• Creative problem solver who thrives when presented with a challenge.
• Energetic and eager to tackle new projects and ideas. Abilities The individual must possess the following abilities to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some or a combination of the abilities.
• Requires walking/ standing for long periods of time, bending and crouching, climbing, working in small/tight spaces, and lifting up to 50 lbs.
• Ability to read, listen and communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to access and accurately input information using a moderately complex computer system.
• Hearing and visual ability to observe and detect signs of emergency situations.
• Requires the ability to perform the physical, visual and hearing requirements in the working conditions above. Other
• Upon employment all team members are required to comply with the standards, rules and regulations, which may be established by the Company and updated from time-to-time. Team members who violate property rules or have irregular attendance will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
• The leisure business functions seven days a week. Due to the seasonal nature of the industry, team members may be required to work varying schedules, weekends, holidays and overtime to reflect the business needs of the property. Team members may also be required to attend group and/or department meetings in addition to the work shift as necessary.
• This job description is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of all job functions that a team member in this position may be asked to perform.