Daily Mail 08/02/2007 - Go on be a daredevil
They are daredevil jobs -- exciting, in demand worldwide and well-paid. But would you be brave enough to do them?
Commercial divers and rope access technicians -- who work while dangling from structures hundreds of feet up -- are the superheroes of the working world.
It's not an all-male world. There are female rope access technicians, and some women become commercial divers, too.
Pay reflects their prowess: some earn more than £1,000 a day. If you've got the nerve, here's how to join them.
Commercial divers are in huge demand. 'The oil and gas industry is crying out for them. Many experienced divers are coming up to retirement, and increased oil exploration means more wells are being sunk, which often involves diving,' says Steve Ham from the Underwater Centre ( theunderwatercentre.co.uk) in Fort William, Scotland.
Health and safety rules require divers to be trained for the job. As they are mostly self-employed contract workers, they need to pay for this themselves.
First, take a ten-week basic airdiver course, that teaches scuba and surface air- supply diving. It's not cheap: the Underwater Centre charges £7,500.
Then, get extra skills. The most indemand in the oil and gas industry are underwater welding and cutting, or non-destructive testing skills for inspecting underwater structures. A combined course at the Underwater Centre costs £11,137.
Next, get the experience you need to boost your rates of pay. 'Work in the Middle and Far East, where these skills are in demand,' says Bruce Webster of Integrated Subsea Services in Aberdeen. With enough experience, you can take a course to become a saturation diver -- the kings of the industry who live in diving bells at the bottom of the sea and work on undersea structures. Courses cost around £10,000.
Pay starts at £207.79 a day, but mixed-gas diving supervisors at the top of the profession get a minimum £572.20 a day. The most experienced can earn £1,000 plus a day.
There are disadvantages to the job, though. Divers are selfemployed, so not working means not getting paid.
'It's not as risky as you might think because health and safety requirements are so strict, but it's not easy money,' says Steve Ham. 'You have to be focused, determined and self-reliant.'
BUT if you don't fancy the depths, how about the heights? Rope access technicians work at heights where scaffolding would be impossible, such as skyscrapers or at sea on oil installations.
The Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (www.irata.org) lists training schools where you can pay for your own training (courses typically cost £550) if you cannot find an employer to fund you.
The one-week level one course teaches you how to set up ropes, abseil, rescue others from ropes and master climbing techniques.
With a year's experience and 1,000 hours on ropes you can do a more advanced level two course.
And at the top are level threes, who tend to be the ones looking after teams working on sites.
Pay starts at around £8 to £9 an hour, but can rise to £15 an hour onshore. Offshore level threes can earn up to £5,000 a month.
'I LIVE, EAT AND SLEEP ON THE SEABED'
PAUL HENRY, 39, pictured, spends up to 28 days at a time with five others in a 12ft-diameter saturation chamber at the bottom of the North Sea. 'We live, eat and sleep in the chamber, and travel to work in a diving bell, from which we emerge to work six-hour shifts on the seabed,' says Paul, from Aberdeen.
The work can be putting gas pipelines together, or cutting through metal with a gas cutter, or using explosives for decommissioning oil wells. 'You get paid only when you are working on a contract, but the money can be good. The best welding divers can earn more than £5,000 a month,' says Paul.
As you are self-employed, you have to pay for your own training. 'I have paid about £25,000 to get my qualifications and I have to pay to keep them uptodate. And it's hard work -- most people get out by the time they're 50,' he says. 'I love the freedom to choose where I work,' says Paul, who has worked in Mexico, Spain, and the Far and Middle East on oil, gas and civil engineering projects. He advises that you start as a support technician to see if you like it before you invest in diving training.